Timeline for What is the meaning of 'wottest'?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
18 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 25, 2016 at 7:08 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackEnglish/status/802046323465789441 | ||
| Nov 25, 2016 at 3:46 | history | edited | JEL | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
reverted to original intent of question
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| Nov 25, 2016 at 3:42 | comment | added | JEL | Looking at the history of the question, I see that some of the problems were the result of a liberal re-interpretation of the question in the first edits (not the OP's). I will endeavor to reverse those problems with another edit. | |
| Nov 25, 2016 at 3:38 | comment | added | JEL | The simple answer is that 'wottest' is not Old English, but rather late Middle English or, at a stretch not supported by many scholars, Early Modern English. In Middle English, the meaning is still quite close to 'have seen' and thus 'know'; 'wot' generally is a variant form of 'wit', which latter is still in use in limited contexts, to wit, this one; it is otherwise archaic, and 'wot' is entirely obsolete. In the particular text cited, however, 'wottest' is used as an archaism for atmosphere in a translation to Modern English from a Middle English adaptation of Old-Middle French writings. | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 23:21 | comment | added | Alan Carmack | See a simple Google search for wottest define | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 23:15 | history | edited | tchrist♦ |
edited tags
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| Nov 24, 2016 at 23:04 | answer | added | Mick | timeline score: 3 | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 23:00 | history | edited | anongoodnurse | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
edited in an example.
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| Nov 24, 2016 at 22:59 | comment | added | Mick | @tchrist It would be good to have links to usable and reliable information about this period of English -- verb forms, etc. So far, I have not found any useful info with Google. Maybe this question can be moved to ELU meta at some point. | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 22:34 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | Wottest is Early Modern English. Old English had wast there. This smells like General Reference to me. | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 22:32 | comment | added | Mick | @BladorthinTheGrey I'm having trouble finding detailed information on the verb. The tenses must be tabulated somewhere. | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 22:30 | comment | added | BladorthinTheGrey | Is this not just Googleable? | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 22:30 | history | edited | BladorthinTheGrey | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 4 characters in body; edited title
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| Nov 24, 2016 at 22:17 | comment | added | Mick | @RichardKayser It's finding supporting information. I'm trying to find references for the tenses and persons. | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 22:15 | comment | added | Richard Kayser | @Mick That'a impressive. How about an answer to that effect? | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 22:07 | comment | added | Mick | It is the second person singular present form of wit (to know): "Wottest thou not what to do?" - "Do you not know what to do?" | |
| Nov 24, 2016 at 21:59 | review | First posts | |||
| Nov 25, 2016 at 2:13 | |||||
| Nov 24, 2016 at 21:55 | history | asked | Mohamed.Lalioui | CC BY-SA 3.0 |