quoth, v. (pa. tense) Now arch. or dial.
(kwəʊθ)
[Pa. tense of quethe v. to say.]
Said.
1. Used with ns., or pronouns of the first and third persons, to indicate that the words of a speaker are being repeated.
The vb. is always placed before the subject, and the clause is commonly inserted parenthetically towards the beginning of the words quoted, but may also precede or follow the whole sentence or speech.
(α) 3 cwað, 3–4 quað, quad, (3 quat, hwat), 3–5 quaþ; 3 pl. queþen.
| c 1200 Vices & Virtues 67 ‘Hlauerd,’ cwað he, ‘hwat mai ic don [etc.].’ c 1250 Gen. & Exod. 1313 Quat abraham, ‘god sal bi-sen [etc.].’ Ibid. 3331 Quad moyses, ‘loc! her nu bread.’ c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 432/41 ‘Leoue Moder,’ queþen þe sones. c 1305 Andrew 33 in E.E.P. (1862) 99 Hou miȝte hit beo, quaþ þe Iustise, þat his wille were þerto. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 41 ‘A Madame Merci!’ quaþ I ‘me likeþ wel þi wordes.’ |
(β) 3 pl. quoðen; 4 quoþ, coþe, coth, cuth, 4– quoth, (6 qwoth).
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2993 Quoðen ðo wiches clerkes ‘ðis fortoken godes gastes is.’ a 1300 Cursor M. 7575 (Cott.), Þou es, coth golias, bot ded. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 776 ‘Now bone hostel’ coþe þe burne. 1508 Dunbar Tua mariit wemen 161 To speik, quoth scho, I sall nought spar. 1581 Nowell & Day in Confer. i. (1583) E iiij b, The fyre (quoth wee) hathe heate and lyght. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. vii. §6 No, Quoth the King, I will not be both party and judg. c 1705 Pope Jan. & May 222 ‘I say,’ quoth he, ‘by heav'n the man's to blame.’ 1782 Cowper John Gilpin 25 Quoth Mrs. Gilpin, ‘That's well said’. 1829 Hood Eng. Aram xiii, ‘And well’ quoth he, ‘I know for truth.’ 1838 Lytton Alice 146 ‘I know no man I respect more than Maltravers,’ quoth the admiral. 1884 Browning Ferishtah, Mihrab Shah 1 Quoth an inquirer, ‘Praise the Merciful!’ |
(γ) 4 quot, cod, 4–7 quod (the prevailing form c 1350–1550).
| 13.. Cursor M. 5005 (Gött.), ‘Say me,’ quot iacob, ‘hou es þis?’ Ibid. 19311 (Edinb.) ‘Lauerdingis, it es selcuþe,’ cod þai. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 5 ‘Loke on þe lufthond,’ quod heo ‘and seo wher [he] stondeþ.’ c 1420 Sir Amadace (Camd.) xxxviii, Quod the quite knyȝte, ‘Quat mon is this’? c 1470 Henry Wallace vi. 133 ‘Quhom scornys thow?’ quod Wallace, ‘quha lerd the?’ 1513 Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 122 Quod I, Lovne, thou leis. 1549 Coverdale etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Tim. 2, I haue not chosen (quod he) out of an other mannes flocke. c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 18 Be quhat reason? quod the Doctour. |
(δ) 5 quo, 6 ko, ka, 8 Sc. co', 8–9 quo'.
| c 1450 Merlin 33 ‘In feith,’ quo the oon, ‘I sholde suffer grete myschef er he had eny harm.’ a 1553 Udall Royster D. iii. iii. (Arb.) 44 Bawawe what ye say (ko I)..Nay I feare him not (ko she) 1756 W. Toldervy Hist. 2 Orphans I. 39 Marry (quo' she) I think it is the province of our elder brother. a 1774 Fergusson Iron Kirk Bell Poems (1845) 44 Quo' he..‘This bell o'mine's a trick’. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxiv, Whae's Mr. Robert Campbell, quo' he? 1893 Crockett Stickit Minister 127 ‘Horse or mule,’ quo' she [etc.]. |
† b. Used at the end of a piece to introduce the name of the author. Obs. (Chiefly Sc.)
| a 1500 King's Quair (S.T.S.) 48 Explicit, &c. Quod Jacobus Primus. 1508 Dunbar Lament *101 Quod Dunbar quhen he was seik. c 1550 Lusty Juventus. Finis. Quod R. Weuer. 1583 Satir. Poems Reform. xlv. *1118 Finis. Quod R. S. [1788 Burns Friars Carse 55 Quod the Beadsman of Nith-side.] |
† 2. Used interrogatively with a pronoun of the second person, with the same force as quotha. Obs.
The form quothee may be a var. of quotha.
| a 1553 Udall Royster D. i. ii. (Arb.) 17 Enamoured, quod you?.. Enamoured ka? Ibid. iii. iv. 54 Scribler (ko you). 1573 New Custom i. ii, Primitiue Constitution (quodes stowe) as much as my sleeve! 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 12 Rich, quoth you? They are rich indeede toward the deuill and the world. a 1600 Grim, the Collier of Croydon ii. iv. (1662) 30 As it falls! quoth ye, marry a foul fall is it. 1681 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 5 (1713) I. 28 Earn..And what Trade do they intend to drive? Jest. What Trade, quothee? |
¶ Hence (erroneously) ˈquothing, saying.
| 1864 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. III. 402 The owner had the power of transmitting the possession to an heir by bequest, by quothing or speaking forth the name of his intended successor to the lord. |