thilk, dem. a. and pron. arch. or dial.
(ðɪlk)
Forms: α. 3–5 þilke, 3–7 thilke, 4–5 þylke, þilk, 4–7 thylke, 5 thylk, (6 thailk), 4– thilk. β. 3–5 þulke (ü), 5 þulk, 4–5 þelke. γ. 3–5 þike, 4 þyke, þeke, þuke, 4–5 thike, thyke, theke, 5 thik, 6 þieke; 9 dial. thik, thic, thick, thek, thuck, thicky.
[ME. þilke, known a 1300; app. f. þe, the + ilce, ilk same, meaning the or that same; in some of the quots. þe ilke or þet ilke occurs as a MS. variant.
This analysis suits the form þilke, but does not explain the early southern þülke and the Kentish þelke, which naturally indicate an OE. *þylce. Can there have been a confusion in the south between þilke and late OE. þylc for þyllic, thellich?
(Thick (ðɪk) is in dialect use from Cornwall and Hants to Worcester and Hereford; and also in Pembroke, Glamorgan, and Wexford. In many parts it has also the form thicky, thickee, or thicka. It generally means ‘that’, but in some parts ‘this’, in which case it is contrasted with thuck, thock, or thack = that. It is sometimes indefinite, and has to be made definite, as thick here, this, thick there, that. In Somerset and Dorset, thick and theäse are used only of individual shaped things, as a man or tree, while that and this are used of formless substances in the mass, as flour, milk, marble. See Eng. Dial. Dict.)]
A. adj. The very (thing, person, etc.) mentioned or indicated; the same; that; this.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 68 Iðen ilke huse [MS. C. in þilke hus]. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 54 So blisful him þuȝte þilke steuene. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 381 Ascaneus..gat a child Cycillius; Þylke Cycylli gat þat man Brutus. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. x. 73 (Camb. MS.) It semeth þat þilke same thing be most desyred. a 1425 Cursor M. 11386 (Trin.) And comen to crist þilke day [C., G. þat ilk dai]. c 1449 Pecock Repr. 235 Neither in thilk hil neither in Ierusalem. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 134 Thilk werk tuelf ȝeris first was in making eik. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 61, I loue thilke lasse, (alas why doe I loue?). a 1643 Cartwright Ordinary ii. ii, Dan Cupido Sure sent thylke sweven to mine head. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 236 Says he, in a broad north-country tone, ‘whar hast thou thilk horse?’ |
| β c 1290 St. Brandan 519 in S. Eng. Leg. 234 Þo tornede þe wynd in-to þe North,..In þulke side stronge Inouȝ. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 432 Þulke terme him þuȝte long. c 1315 Shoreham vii. 133 And þelke sone ȝet naþeles Ryȝt ase þe fader hys endeles. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 83 (MS. γ) Þulke Decius. Ibid. VI. 303 Unlawful wedlok..with þelke Iuditha. c 1400 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 3771 Þe men of norweye..adde ymade anoþer mon king of þe [MS. α þelke] londe. a 1425 Cursor M. 11417 (Trin.) Þulke [Laud thilk, Cott. & Gött. þis ilk] sterre hem coom to warn. |
| γ 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 6151 Syn þat þyke pore ermyte was yn drede for so lyte. c 1320 Cast. Love (Halliw.) 747 Ne never wes but thyke [v.r. þulke] oon. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxv, Hemm þat shulde haue parte of þike deere. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) II. 449 Theke parte scholde haue þe victory. 1439 in Ancestor July (1904) 16 That every day in thik month the vij tapres brenne. c 1440 Lovelich Merlin 12104 The tothyr cyte..hindicam hyghte at thyke tyme tho. 1553 Respublica iii. iii, Þieke same waie goeth the hare. 1820 Cobbett Gram. Eng. Lang. xvii. (1847) 109 When we hear a Hampshire plough⁓boy say ‘[She] have giv'd I thick handkercher’. 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. 289 To ho and hanker after thik woman in the way a do. 1898 E. Phillpotts Child. of Mist i. iii. 28 'Tis thicky auld Muscovite duck, roostin' on his lil island. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 7 Aug. 2/2 Do 'e mind thic time, Daddy, when you an' me catched gert lobsters? |
† b. With plural
n.: These; those.
Obs.| c 1275 Lay. 1284 Þe strengest þe weren in þilke daies [c 1205 o þon dawen]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 49 Of þilke mouþes þe see of myddel erþe bygynneþ. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. 3000 Þat þulke relekes nolde neuer go þen a-way. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxviii. 577 Wyth⁓oute ye had more helpe than thilke knaves. |
B. pron. That (or this) person or thing.
| c 1275 Passion our Lord 110 in O.E. Misc. 40 Mayster am ich þilke þat þe wile so dyhte. c 1300 Harrow. Hell 135 Þilke þat nulleþ aȝeyn hem stonde. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶32 Pryuee penaunce is thilke that men doon alday for priuee synnes. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) i. xix. (1859) 19 Ful oftymes haue I warned the..as thylk that loueth the. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xx. 273 Therfore chese the reder..whether this or thilk or bothe he wole holde. 1867 Rock Jim & Nell vii, Britting o' thick an' crazing thack. 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate x. 188 Thuck's our feyther's. 1885 Househ. Words 20 June 141/2, I cowd ha' told thee thilk. |
† b. pl. Those.
Obs.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 7341 Þulke of twenty wynter elde. 1370–80 XI Pains of Hell 113 in O.E. Misc. 226 Þo þat weren vp to þe briȝes In þat flod..Þulke weore glade of þe mischeef. 1401 J. Skydmore in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. I. 20 To all thilke that ye suppose wol take this mater to hert. a 1450 Myrc Par. Pr. 687 Al thilk that with hold eny fredomes. |