theyの意味・使い方・発音

they

英 [ðeɪ] 美 [ðe]

they。

中英語のthey, theiから、古ノルド語のtheyから、原ゲルマン語*thaiから、複数の指示代名詞、these ofから、PIE*toから、指示代名詞、語源はthis, thatと同じ。

they: they: [12] Like their and them, they was borrowed from Old Norse. Its source was their, the plural form of the demonstrative adjective sá, and it replaced the native Old English pronoun hīe.
=> their, them
they (pron.): c. 1200, from a Scandinavian source (Old Norse teir, Old Danish, Old Swedish ter, tair), originally masculine plural demonstrative pronoun, from Proto-Germanic *thai, nominative plural pronoun, from PIE *to-, demonstrative pronoun (see that). Gradually replaced Old English hi, hie, plurals of he, heo "she," hit "it" by c. 1400. Colloquial use for "anonymous people in authority" is attested from 1886. They say for "it is said" is in Milton.
The most important importation of this kind [from Scandinavian to English] was that of the pronomial forms they, them and their, which entered readily into the system of English pronouns beginning with the same sound (the, that, this) and were felt to be more distinct than the old native forms which they supplanted. Indeed these were liable to constant confusion with some forms of the singular number (he, him, her) after the vowels has become obscured, so that he and hie, him and heom, her (hire) and heora could no longer be kept easily apart. [Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language"]

1. They have maintained their optimism in the face of desolating subjugation.: 征服された悲惨な運命に直面して、彼らは楽観的な態度を維持した。

2.He said they should turn their fire on the Conservative Party instead.: 彼らは銃口を回して保守党に火をつけるべきだと言った。

4. They stumble across a ghost town inhabited by a rascally gold prospector.: 彼らは偶然、狡猾なゴールドラッシュが住む廃墟の町に来た。

5. They had a snobish dislike for their intellectual and social inferiors.: 彼らは非常に勢いが良く、知能や社会的地位が自分に及ばない人を嫌っている。