V-form meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

V-form

noun

Etymology From the first letter of the second-person plural pronoun in Romance languages; ultimately from Latin vos.

Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A second-person pronoun used in formal situations, to address unfamiliar people and superiors.

In the Erzin dialect, children address their parents with the V-form; to use the T-form would show a lack of respect for parents.2002, The Bible Translator:
But cross-linguistically one finds that plural pronouns are predominant for the V-form. Again, there may well be a universal here that a plural address implies respect and that the singular pronoun implies a personal, i.e. intimate type of address.2003, Irma Taavitsainen, Andreas H. Jucker, editors, Diachronic Perspectives on Address Term Systems:

2 more examples

Typically, the informal pronominal address term (T-form) is the original second-person pronoun (Latin tu; Germanic du) and the polite or formal V-form is a plural form.2012, Marcel Bax, Dániel Z. Kádár, Understanding Historical (Im)Politeness:
... in March 2010 Ikea's Swiss website in German, French and Italian used the V-form except when addressing prospective job applicants.2014, Challenging the Monolingual Mindset: