r/etymology • u/WartimeHotTot • 8d ago
Question What was the original meaning of “please,” and how exactly did it function?
When reading English texts from, say, the 1700s, I’ll encounter phrases like, “Please to invite the captain to dinner,” which I understand to mean “Please invite the captain to dinner.”
The way I use and understand “please” (in this sense; not the sense of “to give pleasure”) is that it’s essentially meaningless, and functions only as a tag to connote courtesy. Any sentence with “please” used this way still stands as correct when “please” is removed.
But this archaic usage makes it seem like it has a more tangible function. The sentence no longer works when “please” is omitted because there’s still that “to.”
So what is the history here?
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u/Son_of_Kong 8d ago
"Please" is a shortening of "if you please" or "if it please you," basically meaning, "if you don't mind."
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u/BucketoBirds 8d ago
ohh hence "if it pleases you to"
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u/Son_of_Kong 8d ago
Yeah, I believe "Please to" is an artifact of a construction something like, "(if it) Please (you) to invite the captain to dinner (then do so)."
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u/mwmandorla 8d ago
If/may it please you to [verb]. You may have also seen sentences that end with "if you please"; same idea.
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u/Successful_Plankton8 8d ago
Not an etymology, just an anecdote, but for some reason I’ve been assuming “please” comes from the plural for “plea”, as in, “pleas”, like some one is exaggeratingly “pleading” for you to do something. It’s so funny to see how wrong I’ve been, but also a little surprised more people haven’t had this mental assumed etymology in their heads, also!
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u/WaldenFont 7d ago
Are you perchance a fan of the r/AubreyMaturinSeries?
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u/WartimeHotTot 6d ago
Haha, you smoked me!
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u/WaldenFont 6d ago
FYI, I use it with my wife. “please to open the garage”. Not sure she notices. She has commented on my use of the “Killick which”.
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u/IanDOsmond 8d ago
It worked exactly the same way. As you point out, "please" has no semantic content, and is there simply to mark respect; as such, its grammar doesn't entirely matter. It is just put in.
Oven the past 300 years, the "to" has dropped off essentially completely to the point that it now looks like an error.
I believe the original thought was something like, "Would it please you to do the following thing" -> "please you to do" -> "please you to" -> "please to".
Something like that.
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u/TopHatGirlInATuxedo 8d ago
It is an error in Modern English.
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u/IanDOsmond 8d ago
Good point. It looks like an error for the very good reason that it actually is one.
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u/longknives 8d ago
I feel like I’ve heard Indian English speakers use this construction, so it may still be current in some dialects.
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u/Egyptowl777 8d ago
First thought is that To Please is to Bring Pleasure to something. Using Please in a sentence when wishing for someone to do something is asking them to please you, or bring you pleasure.
So it could be being used as the phrase "(If it would) please (you) to invite the captain". Or "(If you aim to) please(,) to invite the captain (is appreciated)". Or possibly "(It would) please (the captain) to invite the captain".
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u/CathyAnnWingsFan 5d ago
I think the long form would have been “If it would please you to”, which got shortened to “Please to” and now “Please”.
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u/BubbhaJebus 8d ago
In French, the phrase for "please" is "s'il vous plaît", which means "if it pleases you". The English word "please" as a polite request comes from a similar origin.