Learn English – Etymology of the imperial or royal “we”

british-englishetymology

The "imperial we" is when the Queen of England uses the word "we" in situations that a speaker/writer would normally use the word "I".

From Merriam Webster, second definition of we: "used by sovereigns —used by writers to keep an impersonal character".

Here is the wikipedia page on it also if anyone's curious.

What is the etymology of this practice? Which queen of England first started using it and why? I have had difficulty finding any source on this.

Edit: someone has linked to this as a possible duplicate; however it has no additional information on the etymology that I have already linked to (which is the wiki on the royal we).

All the wiki page says is that "William Longchamp is credited with its introduction to England in the late 12th century, following the practice of the Chancery of Apostolic Briefs."

So William Longchamp isn't really the origin of the concept, but the Chancery of Apostolic Briefs is. Does anyone know anything more?

Best Answer

we (pronoun)

The "royal we" (use of plural pronoun to denote oneself) is at least as old as "Beowulf" (c.725); use by writers to establish an impersonal style is also from Old English; it was especially common 19c. in unsigned editorials, to suggest staff consensus, and was lampooned as such at least since 1853 (see wegotism).

wegotism (n.)

1797, from we + egotism; "an obtrusive and too frequent use of the first person plural by a speaker or writer" [OED].

Etymonline

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