Talk:methinks

Is it really a verb? Methinks, in usage it looks more like an interjection, or an adverb. Dart evader 14:36, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

In modern usage you may be right. It goes back to an old causative double in germanic. In dutch an german they are still there (though little used):

dunken - denken

dünken - denken

Dunken is 'to make denk'. (Just like to set is to make sit) nl:Gebruiker:Jcwf

It’s a so-called impersonal verbform. The Modern English equivalent is seen in expressions such as "it is raining," where "it" has no referent (impersonal). —Stephen 15:07, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

It cracks me up? (;-)) Jcwf

OK, thanks, Stephen. Dart evader

Why isn't methinks obsolete? In 1921, a book published by Harvard said it was. [Google Books Link]

I think archaic might be a better label. In the U.S. I still hear and use methinks from time to time for its distinctive old-hickory effect. —Stephen 23:15, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

German forms - Further forms

This is a very old "twin" verb. Gothic þagkjan - past þâhta to think

             þugkjan - past þûhta to seem - impersonal + dat.

Anglo-Saxon" þencan - þôhte - 3eþôht

               þyncan - þûhte - 3eþûht - impers. + dat. 

German denken - dâchte - gedâcht to think

            dünken - es dünkt mich, dich, ihn, sie... - dauchte - es hat mich gedaucht to seem impers. + acc.
              mir deucht[e] is Subjunctive Imperfect [Konjunktiv II] wrongly spelt and wrongly used; correct däuchte = past tense

Online source: www.dwb.uni-trier.de - article: DÜNKEN .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

There should be more forms in English: theethinks, himthinks, herthinks, usthinks, youthinks, themthinks

but I lack resources to check.

Nuremberg / Bavaria Ángel García ~ ~ ~ ~

See also section

In the 'See also' section, there are currently three similar terms listed:

• methought (archaic)
• meseems (obsolete)
• mehopes

I wonder, has there ever been in usage any other term similar to these?  Has mefeels ever been a term, or mesuspects, meconjectures, mesurmises?  Perhaps meknows?  Maybe meworries?  Any?

Or, do (A) methinks/methinking/methought, (B) meseems/meseeming/meseemed, and (C) mehopes/mehoping/mehoped constitute the entirety of terms that share this root?

Sincerely,
allixpeeke (talk) 06:47, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

Tenses

I see methought listed as the past tense of methinks.  While obviously thought is the past tense of think, I would have thought, due to the unusualness of the term, that the past tense of methinks might have been methinked.  I do see that there are quotations on the methought page verifying its usage as an actual term.  Nevertheless, I have to wonder whether methinked may have been also used as a term and, if so, whether its meaning might not be identical to methought.  Is there any historical record to indicate that methinked may also have been a term?

Yours,
allixpeeke (talk) 06:47, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

I dont think it would be. The verb in use here is simply the normal verb think, and it has the -s because it's using an impersonal subject, as if implying "it thinks to me". It therefore would have the past tense thought. —Soap— 00:24, 25 November 2022 (UTC)

Sorry, I made a mistake. This really is a separate verb historically, ... it's the causative form of the normal verb think. A bit like how set is the causative form of sit. It seems that English, unlike German, merged the two into one over time. why? in Middle English the sequence eng was shifted to ing, and this may have also entailed enk shifting to ink. —Soap— 16:03, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

meseemed

is there a specific reason for meseemed not to be added? --Backinstadiums (talk) 18:03, 2 March 2020 (UTC)

Old English

I took out this Old English quote from the entry:

1. • ~870-899, Alfred the Great: {{rfdatek|ang|Alfred the Great}} <!--needs name of work-->

     Forthy me thincth betre,
     gif iow swæ thincth,
     thæt we eac sumæ bec

I assume this is NISoP in Old English so doesn't merit its own entry. This, that and the other (talk) 13:23, 3 June 2022 (UTC)