142 Epistemic Parentheticals
b. “Be my faythe,” seyde Arthure, “here ar good knyghtes as I deme as ony be
in the worlde” (a1470 Malory, Morte dArthur 58– 59 [HC])
‘ “By my faith,” said Arthur, “here are good knights, as I judge, as any that are
in the world” ’
c. they wyl sone parte as þat I gesse (?a1475 Ludus Coventriae 333 [HC])
‘they will soon part as that I guess’
d. “That Grekis wolde hire wrath on Troie wreke,/ If that they myght, I knowe
it wel , iwis.” (1380– 86 Chaucer, TC V 960– 61)
‘That the Greeks wanted to give vent to their wrath on Troy, if they might,
I know it well, certainly’
e. “And that ye weten wel yourself, I leve .” (1380– 86 Chaucer, TC II 238)
‘And that you know well yourself, I believe’
f. oure Recorder have knoweliche of all thyng that y have write home yf he
be here as y suppose attis tyme (<1450 Shillingford, Letters and papers
265– 67 [HC])
‘our recorder has knowledge of all thing that I have written home if he is here,
as I suppose, at times’
g. “I nas, ne nevere mo to ben, I thynke ,/ Ayeins a thing that myghte the for-
thynke” (1380– 86 Chaucer, TC II 1413)
‘I wasn’t, nor never more to be, I think, against a thing that might
displease you’
h. I wold she did well, God knowithe it, and ye deme, as I trowe , yff I had
ffownd hir at home here my comfforte shuld have bene the more (c1476
Betson, in The Stoner letters and papers , ll. 144– 146 [HC])
‘I wish she did well, God knows it, and you judge, as I believe, if I had found
her at home here my comfort should have been the more’
i. Euery man for hys degre I trust xall be partycypatt. (c1475 Mankind
160.190 [HC])
‘Every man according to his degree, I trust, shall be participating’
j. Also, as I understand , the Duke of Norffolk hath made a great complaint of
yow to the Kinge (15th century Clement Paston, Paston letters and papers ll.
85– 86 [HC])
‘Also, as I understand, the Duke of Norfold has made a great complaint about
you to the King’
k. “Thanne shaltou swymme as myrie, I undertake ,/ As dooth the white doke
after hire drake.” (1387– 1400 Chaucer, CT A.Mil. 3575– 76)
‘Then shall you swim as merry, I declare, as the white duck does after
her drake’
l. In þat place , I am welle ware , Oure lorde arered seint Lazare. (c1450 Mandev.
(4) (CovCRO Acc.325/ 1) 1203 [MED])
‘In that place, I am well aware, our Lord raised up St. Lazarus’
m. Þre dayes þer- biforn, I wene, Et he no mete (c1300 Havelok 115– 16 [HC])
‘three days before that, I think , he did not eat any food’
n. “That I ne telle of laxatyves no stoor,/ For they been venymes, I woot it weel .”
(1387– 1400 Chaucer, CT B.NP 3154– 55)