The majestic plural (pluralis maiestatis/majestatis in Latin, literally, "the plural of majesty," maiestatis being in the genitive case), is the use of a plural pronoun to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch, bishop, or pope. It is also called the royal pronoun, the royal "we" or the Victorian "we." The more general word for the use of we to refer to oneself is nosism, from the Latin nos.[1] It is most commonly used to denote the excellence, power, and dignity of the person that speaks or writes.
In pluralis maiestatis a speaker refers to her- or himself using a grammatical number other than the singular (i.e., in plural or, where attested, dual form). For example, the Basic Law of the Sultanate of Oman opens thus:
On the Issue of the Basic Law of the State We, Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of Oman...[2]
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A common example is the royal "we" (pluralis majestatis), which is a nosism employed by a person of high office, such as a monarch, earl or pope. It is also used in certain formal contexts by bishops and university rectors. William Longchamp is credited with its introduction to England in the late 12th century, following the practice of the papal chancery.[3] Its first recorded use was in 1169 when King Henry II, hard pressed by his barons over the Investiture Controversy, assumed the common theory of "divine right of kings," that the monarch acted conjointly with the deity. Hence, he used "we" as "God and I...," or so the legend goes. (See Rolls Series, 2.12)
In the public situations in which it is used, the monarch or other dignitary is typically speaking, not in his own proper person, but as leader of a nation or institution. Nevertheless, the habit of referring to leaders in the plural has influenced the grammar of several languages, in which plural forms tend to be perceived as deferential and more polite than singular forms. This grammatical feature is common in languages that have the T-V distinction.
Popes have used the we as part of their formal speech with certain recent exceptions. The English translations of the documents of John Paul II dispensed with this practice, using the singular "I," even though the Latin original usually continued to use the first person plural "We."[4]
The editorial "we" is a similar phenomenon, in which editorial columnists in newspapers and similar commentators in other media refer to themselves as we when giving their opinions. Here, the writer has once more cast him- or herself in the role of spokesman: either for the media institution who employs him, or more generally on behalf of the party or body of citizens who agree with the commentary.
Similar to the editorial "we" is the practice common in scientific literature of referring to a generic third person by we (instead of the more common one or the informal you):
"We" in this sense often refers to "the reader and the author," since the author often assumes that the reader knows certain principles or previous theorems for the sake of brevity (or, if not, the reader is prompted to look them up), for example, so that the author does not need to explicitly write out every step of a mathematical proof.
This practice is also common in philosophy journals and texts, and comments in computer source code.
The patronizing "we" is sometimes used in addressing instead of "you," hinting a facetious assurance that the one asked is not alone in his situation, that "I am with you, we are in this together." A doctor may ask a patient: And how are we feeling today? This usage is emotionally non-neutral and usually bears a condescending, ironic, praising, or some other flavor, depending on an intonation: "Aren't we looking cute?" In distinction to the patronizing "we" is the non-confrontative "we" used in T-V languages such as Spanish where the phrase ¿Cómo estamos? (literally, "How are we?") is sometimes used to avoid both over-familiarity and over-formality among near-peer acquaintances.
The tradition of the royal we may also be traced to the Mughals of India and Sultans of Banu Abbas and Banu Umayyah. The royal we is used to express the dignity or highest position either understood as strictly hierarchical or as referential to an alternate "higher" than ego identity.
There are many verses in the Qur'an where Allah speaks using the Arabic pronoun nahnu (meaning "we") or its associated suffix. "We" created, "we" sent down, etc.[5] It is also used in the second person in formal diplomatic language, associated with a style or honorific. For instance, the President of Egypt would be addressed as فخامتكم Fakhāmatakum, "Your (plural) Excellency" in formal diplomatic communications (e.g. diplomatic telegrams).
This usage is also popular among the speakers of the Batangan dialect of Tagalog, while some actors and politicians such as Philippine President Benigno Aquino III have been known to use the Tagalog exclusive form in giving interviews.
Other instances of use: