methinks

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English me thinketh,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English mē þyncð (“it seems to me”),^[5][6][3][7] formed from Old English mē (“to me”) + þyncð (“it seems”): mē is the dative of ic (“I”), and þyncð is the third person singular of þyncan (“to seem”).^[5][3][2] The OED describes it as at first a simple collocation of me and think, later felt as a single word.^[8] Old English kept this verb apart from the related þencan (“to think”), but in Middle English both developed into forms in think- and were confused and finally merged.^[3][5] The impersonal verb has cognates in Old Saxon thunkian, Old High German dunchan, Old Norse mér þykkir (“it seems to me”) and Gothic 𐌸𐌿𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (þugkjan, “to seem”),^[9][10][1] and German has the parallel phrase German mich dünkt or mir dünkt, from dünken (“to seem”).^[3][1] Barnhart traces the verb to Proto-Germanic *þunkijaną.^[3] The past tense methought appears in the 13th century, replacing Old English mē þūhte.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It seems to me: in King Alfred's translation of Boethius, before 899.^[3][8] The past tense, it seemed to me, is recorded in the Old English Hexateuch (Genesis).^[8]

Semantic evolution

Because the dative me and the verb think (seem) were no longer understood, the phrase was reshaped in several ways: Middle English me thinketh and me thinkes (before 1375),^[3] forms such as me think with a first-person ending, and in the 16th and 17th centuries my think and my thought, from the reduced pronunciation shared by me and my.^[8] Impersonal think with other pronouns than me lasted into the early 17th century.^[8] Methinks replaced me thinketh in the 16th century,^[6] and Johnson (1755) called it a verb impersonal, noted the explanation that it was a "Norman corruption" from French speakers confusing me and I, and judged meseems more grammatical though less used.^[11] The word is now archaic or poetic,^[5][2][12] or humorous.^[13][1]

Timeline

• before 899 – Old English mē þyncð, it seems to me.^[3][8]
• Old English – past tense, it seemed to me.^[8]
• before 1200 – me thinketh.^[3]
• 13th century – past tense methought.^[6]
• before 1375 – me thinkes.^[3]
• 16th century – methinks as one word.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (archaic, poetic or humorous) It seems to me, I think (past tense methought): The guests, methinks, have stayed too long.^{[2][12][13][8]}

Related words

• me
• think
• meseems

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press