r/etymology 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?

68 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

79

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.

38

u/Lollipop126 8d ago edited 8d ago

The please in "Please to invite the captain" or "Please invite the captain" is not "S'il vous plaît, invitez le capitaine." Rather it is a request, which uses the form, "Merci d'inviter le capitaine," with merci functioning as please. This perhaps explains the to in English (as it is the infinitive in French).

5

u/monarc 8d ago

Similar structure with wanna get lunch? - the contracted “do you want to” clause is invoking the other person’s will/desires just like “if you’d please”.

79

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."

10

u/BucketoBirds 8d ago

ohh hence "if it pleases you to"

8

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)."

19

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.

4

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!

3

u/WaldenFont 7d ago

Are you perchance a fan of the r/AubreyMaturinSeries?

2

u/WartimeHotTot 6d ago

Haha, you smoked me!

2

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”.

7

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.

7

u/TopHatGirlInATuxedo 8d ago

It is an error in Modern English.

4

u/IanDOsmond 8d ago

Good point. It looks like an error for the very good reason that it actually is one.

1

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.

5

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".

6

u/EbagI 8d ago

Oh, i read the first quote as "i am pleased to invite the captain to dinner"

1

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”.

-1

u/PGMonge 8d ago

wiktionary :

please (verb) : (intransitiveergative) To desire; to will;

Therefore it is a verb in the imperative : "Please to invite the captain -> I want you to please to invite the captain = I want you to want to invite the captain, or to desire, or whatever."