Where does the phrase 'me thinks' come from?

Question

IT IRRITATES THE HELL OUT OF ME!!!!!!

Answer 1

english used to have a case called the dative of interest. it showed who was involved in an action by putting the dative next to the verb.

in shakespeare's 'taming of the shrew' petruchio asks his manservant:

'knock me soundly here sirrah'

petruchio means that the servant should knock at the door for petruchio.

of course the servant pretends that petruchio has asked him to punch him.

'methinks' is another example of the dative of interest.

the dative of interest was already on the way out in shakespeare's time (this is the point of the joke between petruchio and his man), but some people think using old-fashioned english is cool.

Answer 2

It was the way in which people expressed themselves a few centuries ago. In Shakespeare's "Henry IV Part I", for example:
"By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap
To pluck bright honour from the pale-faced moon,
Or dive into the bottom of the deep,
Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,
And pluck up drowned honour by the locks".

or "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" (Hamlet).

The meaning is "it seems to me". The equivalent in Dutch - i.e. misschien -- has become the word for "because".

Nobody I know seems to say it, so I have no opportunity to be irritated.

Answer 3

Methinks was immortalised by Shakespeare, but it would originally have made grammatical sense, in the same way Germans can say 'mir ist' (me is) rather than 'Ich bin' (I am) in some situations. I think it's like that in most Germanic languages even now, I forget why.

It was used by both Chaucer and Alfred the Great before Shakespeare.

Answer 4

You seem to be giving a great deal of power to the word. It is one word, "methinks."

It arose in Elizabethan English, and retains its popularity by its frequent use in the plays of Shakespeare.

Answer 5

Middle English. It features in Shakespeare a lot ie "Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in a tomb" - Romeo and Juliet.

Answer 6

Me thinks it's Olde English 16th 17th century. Actually I rather like it if it is not constantly used

Answer 7

Shakespeare!
"Methinks thou lady doth protest too much"
That's a fact.

Answer 8

[Middle English me thinkes, from Old English mē thyncth : mē, to me; see me + thyncth, it seems; see tong- in Indo-European roots.]

methinks
O.E. me þyncð "it seems to me," from me, dat. of I, + þyncð, third pers. sing. of þyncan "to seem," reflecting the O.E. distinction between þyncan "to seem" and related þencan "to think," which bedevils modern students of the language (see think). The two words were constantly confused, then finally merged, in M.E.

Answer 9

Shakespeare or JarJar

Answer 10

May be people were afraid to use " I" or it's just language of some secret lodge !