What does thine mean in Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 1

Thy and Thine are Elizabethan informal second person singular possessives like "your". In Elizabethan times "your" was formal, "thy" and "thine" were informal or familiar. For the plural, "your" was the only option.

Where we would use "your", "thy" is the regular word, and "thine" is the form used before a word starting with a vowel, in the same way as we say "a cat" but "an enemy". In Romeo and Juliet, "thine" is used about 13 times. A number of these are "thine own", "thine eyes", "thine ear" and "thine enemy". In all of these you can substitute "your" for "thine", as in "It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear;" which means the same as "It was the nightingale and not the lark that pierced the fearful hollow of your ear."

There are actually two different uses for "thine", however. Sometimes "thine" is the equivalent to the word "yours". For example, Romeo says to Tybalt, "for Mercutio's soul Is but a little way above our heads, Staying for thine to keep him company". What he means is: "Mercutio's soul is . . . staying (waiting) for yours to keep him company." "Thine" is also the informal, familiar and in this case contemptuous form of the more formal "Yours".

Answer 2

"Thine" is an archaic form of the word "your" or "yours." In Romeo and Juliet, characters often use "thine" when addressing someone in a more formal or poetic manner.