給ふ / たまへ: The Classical Honorific

Before modern keigo settled on なさる and お〜になる, the high honorific of choice was a single verb: 給（たま）ふ (modern reading たまう). It meant "to deign to, to be so gracious as to" — a full verb, not a mere politeness marker — and it both stood alone ("the lord bestowed [it]") and rode on other verbs as an honorific auxiliary (見（み）給ふ "deigns to look"). Modern Japanese retired it from ordinary speech, yet it did not vanish. It survives in two unmistakable places: as the clipped, masculine command 〜たまえ (座（すわ）りたまえ, 聞（き）きたまえ) that instantly stamps a character as an old-fashioned superior, and as the living language of prayer and hymn (我（われ）らを導（みちび）きたまえ), where modern keigo would sound far too casual for the sacred.

What 給ふ actually is

給ふ is an honorific verb. As a standalone verb it means "to bestow, to grant" said of an exalted giver; as an auxiliary it attaches to the 連用形（れんようけい, the "-i" stem） of another verb and elevates its subject. This is the key point: because 給ふ is a real verb, it conjugates fully, and its imperative outranks any ordinary command.

As an auxiliary it stacks on the verb stem: 見 + 給ふ = 見給ふ ("deigns to see"), 与（あた）へ + 給ふ = 与へ給ふ ("deigns to give"), 言ひ + 給ふ = 言ひ給ふ ("deigns to say"). In modern spelling and reading these are 見たまう, 与えたまう, 言いたまう. The whole role — elevate the subject of the attached verb — is exactly what modern お〜になる and なさる took over.

The survival everyone knows: 〜たまえ

The imperative 給へ, written たまえ, is the piece of 給ふ still in active use. Attached to a verb's 連用形, it forms a command that is stiff, masculine, and downward — the voice of an old professor, an army officer, a haughty gentleman, a boss of the old school. Any reader of Japanese novels or watcher of anime knows it on sight.

Notice the pattern: 座り + たまえ, 聞き + たまえ, 待ち + たまえ, 来（き）+ たまえ — always on the 連用形. The effect is a command that is polite in form (it uses an honorific verb) yet condescending in use, because you only issue it to someone beneath you. A single たまえ tells the reader everything about the speaker's age, class, and self-regard. It pairs naturally with the masculine 君（きみ）and 諸君（しょくん）.

The sacred niche: prayer and hymn

Here 給ふ is not a fossil but still productive. In Christian and Shinto liturgy, and in solemn invocation, 〜たまえ is the standard way to petition a deity — because modern keigo (お〜ください) would sound too everyday, too transactional, for addressing the divine. Directed upward to God, the very same imperative form becomes reverent rather than curt.

The Lord's Prayer's opening petition, 御名（みな）を崇（あが）めさせたまえ ("hallowed be thy name"), uses the same たまえ, and in older hymns 給う is often sung with the archaic reading たもう (愛（あい）したもう "[God] loves"). A famous secular prayer keeps it too — the warrior Yamanaka Shikanosuke is said to have prayed to the crescent moon, 願（ねが）わくば我（われ）に七難八苦（しちなんはっく）を与（あた）えたまえ ("grant me seven hardships and eight sufferings"), pairing the wish-frame 願わくば with 与えたまえ.

のたまう: now purely sarcastic

A close relative, のたまう (宣う, "to deign to say"), was once a straightforward honorific for "says." Modern Japanese kept it alive for one purpose only: sarcasm. When someone reports a remark with のたまう, they are mockingly dressing up a self-important or absurd statement in honorifics the speaker does not deserve.

The honorific coating is the joke: のたまう flags the quoted person as pompous. Used sincerely today it would sound bizarre; used sarcastically it is sharp and current.

One honest complication: two 給ふ

Classical Japanese actually had two verbs 給ふ, and this is the point most learners never hear. The one above is the 四段（よだん） 給ふ — the high honorific that elevates its subject. There was also a 下二段（しもにだん） 給ふ, a humble auxiliary the speaker used about their own acts of perceiving or thinking (見給ふ, 思ひ給ふ), appearing only in Heian-era dialogue and inflecting differently (給へ, 給ふる, 給ふれ). It left no modern trace and you will not meet it outside classical literature — but knowing it exists explains why 給ふ can look inconsistent across old texts. For every purpose in modern Japanese, "給ふ" means the 四段 honorific.

For English speakers

English has no verb that means "to graciously do" and then lends its dignity to another verb. The closest we get is auxiliary "deign" or the archaic "vouchsafe" — "deign to sit," "vouchsafe us thy blessing" — but those are lexical curiosities, not a living grammatical layer. Japanese made 給ふ a full honorific verb, which is why its imperative can outrank ordinary commands and why it fits the pulpit. Read 〜たまえ as "kindly / do (I command you)" when it points down, and as "deign to / we beseech thee" when it points up.

Common mistakes

1. Treating 〜たまえ as neutral politeness. It is a superior's command, not a polite request to an equal or elder.

2. Attaching たまえ to the wrong stem. It rides the 連用形, like other auxiliaries — 聞き + たまえ, never 聞く + たまえ.

3. Using 〜たまえ in ordinary modern conversation. Unless you're voicing a stuffy character or writing fiction, it lands as theatrical.

4. Taking のたまう at face value. In modern use it is almost always sarcastic; reporting a respected person's words with it insults them.

Key takeaways

• 給ふ (たまう) is a full classical honorific verb ("to deign to"), standalone and as an auxiliary on the 連用形 (見給ふ, 与へ給ふ); modern keigo replaced it with なさる / お〜になる.
• Its imperative 給へ → 〜たまえ survives as a stiff, masculine, downward command (座りたまえ, 聞きたまえ) that outranks 〜ろ and 〜なさい.
• It stays productive in prayer and hymn (救い出したまえ, 導きたまえ, 御名を崇めさせたまえ), where keigo would be too casual; the hymnal reading can be たもう.
• Same form, opposite vector: downward it commands; upward (to a deity) it reverently petitions.
• のたまう ("deign to say") now survives only sarcastically — mock-honorifics for a pompous remark.
• Classical had two 給ふ — 四段 (honorific) and 下二段 (humble) — but only the honorific 四段 matters for modern Japanese.