5.4 Epistemic Marking in Middle English 141While a number of these verbs are quite rare, the i guess , i suppose , i
trow , i undertake , and i woot parentheticals are common. Below are ME
examples of all of the different verbs:
(2) a. He is to wys, in feith, as I bileeve (1387– 1400 Chaucer, CT G.CY 644)
‘He is too wise, in faith, as I believe’
Earliest dictionary
citationI WENE I wene ‘I think,’ as I wene ‘as I think,’ al
so Y wene ‘also I think,’ þat no wene
ich nauere ‘that I do not think never’
1300
(OED, s.v. ween , v.,
def. 1h)
I WOOT I woot ‘I know,’ I woot wel ‘I know well,’
wel woot I ‘well know I,’ wel I woot
‘well I know,’ I woot right wel ‘I know
right well,’ I woot ek wel ‘I know
also well,’ ek wel I woot ‘also well
I know,’ {this , that} woot I wel ‘{this,
that} know I well,’ {but , and , for} wel
I woot ‘{but, and, for} well I know,’
for wel woot I ‘for well know I,’ for
aught I woot ‘for aught I know,’ now
woot I wel ‘now know I well,’ I woot it
wel certeyn ‘I know it well certainly,’
I woot as wel as ye ‘I know as well as
you,’ Y woot neuer ‘I know never’
1400
(OED, s.v. wit , v.^1 ,
def. I 1e(a))Impersonal constructions b
IT SEEMETH / SEEMED
ME
so as it semed me ‘so as it seemed to
me,’ me semed so ‘to me seemed so,’
as it semeth me ‘as it seems to me’1377
(OED, s.v. seem , v.^2 ,
def. 7d)
IT THINKETH ME it thinketh me ‘seems to me,’ as it
thynketh me ‘as it seems to me,’ as
thynketh me ‘as seems to me,’ as that
me thynketh ‘as that seems to me,’ me
thynketh by {thy , his} cheere ‘seems
to me by {your, his} face,’ as me best
thynketh ‘as seems best to me,’ me
þenkeþ ‘seems to me,’ as me þinkeþ
‘as seems to me’
1405
(OED, s.v. think , v.^1 ,
def. 1)a. Palander- Collin (1997: 372) dates parenthetical (personal) I think from the EModE period.
b. Impersonals such as it semeth or so thynketh , in which the experiencer is not explicitly denoted,
though they express epistemic meaning, have been omitted since they are not explicitly fi rst
person.
Table 5.1 (cont.)