140 Epistemic Parentheticals
Table 5.1 First- person epistemic parentheticals in Middle English
Earliest dictionary
citationPersonal constructions
I BELIEVE as I bileeve ‘as I believe’ 1395
(MED, s.v. bil ē ven
(v.(2)), def. 5a)
I DEEM I deme ‘I think,’ as I deme ‘as I think,’
and so I may wel deme ‘and so I may
well think,’ as we can deeme ‘as we
can think’
1395
(MED, s.v. d ē men (v.),
def. 6a)I GUESS I gesse ‘I guess,’ as I gesse ‘as I guess,’
even as I gesse ‘even as I guess,’ as
þat I gesse ‘as that I guess’
1375
(MED, s.v. gessen (v.),
def. 11a)
I KNOW I knowe wel ‘I know well,’ right wel
I knowe ‘right well I know,’ that
knowe ich wel ‘that know I well,’
I knowe it wel (iwis) ‘I know it well
(certainly),’ as I kan knowe ‘as I can
know’
1425
(MED, s.v. knouen
(v.), defs. 15a, d, f)I LEVE I leeve ‘I believe,’ as I leve ‘as I believe,’
I yow leve ‘I believe you’
1375
(MED, s.v. l ē ven
(v.(4)), def. 4a)
I SUPPOSE I suppose ‘I suppose,’ as I suppose ‘as
I suppose’
1400
(OED, s.v. suppose , v.,
defs. 3b and 9d)
I THINK a I thynke ‘I think’ 1393
(OED, s.v. think , v.^2 ,
def. III 11b(b))
I TROW I trowe ‘I believe, trust,’ trowe I ‘believe
I,’ as I trowe ‘as I believe,’ and þat
trow I ‘and that think I,’ so trowe I ‘so
believe I,’ I trowe so ‘I believe so,’
I trowe ek wel ‘I believe also well’
1493
(OED, s.v. trow , v.,
def. 4b)I TRUST I trust ‘I trust,’ as y truste ‘as I trust,’ I
trust to God ‘I trust in God’
1380
(MED, s.v. trusten
(v.), def. 2c)
I UNDERSTAND as I understonde ‘as I understand,’
as I have understonde ‘as I have
understood,’ as I kan understonde
‘as I can understand,’ as fer as I kan
understand ‘as far as I can understand’
1297
(OED, understand , v.,
def 12a)I UNDERTAKE I undertake ‘I declare,’ I dar wel
undertake ‘I dare well declare,’ and
that I undertake ‘and that I declare’
1362
(OED, s.v. undertake ,
v., def. 4d)
I WAS AWARE as I was war ‘as I was aware’ 1450
(MED, s.v. w ā̆ r(e) ,
(adj.), def. 1a(b))