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yes

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English yes or yis, inherited from Old English gēse or gīse (“so be it!”),[2][3][4] probably a compound, from Old English gēa (“so, yea”) + sīe (“may it be”),[3][5][6] the second part being the present subjunctive of bēon (“to be”).[7][4] The first part is yea.[2][3] The second goes back through Proto-Germanic *sijai- to the optative stem Proto-Indo-European *si- of the root *es- (“to be”), the source also of is and am.[2][5] Klein also considers a compound of gēa and swā (“so”).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

So be it!, an emphatic affirmative, stronger than simple yea.[2] Old English gīse, gēse is recorded before 899.[3]

Semantic evolution

Until about 1600 yea answered positive questions and yes answered negative ones,[5] and Shakespeare uses yes mainly in reply to negative questions.[2] After that yes became the reply to both, and yea survived mainly in voice votes.[5] Repeated yes, yes, showing impatience or eagerness, is by the mid-15th century.[2] The noun, “an utterance of yes, an affirmative reply”, is from 1712,[3][2][9] and the verb “to assent” from 1820[2][10] and “to flatter by constant agreement” from 1921,[2] the sense behind yes-man.[6] Johnson (1755) called it “the affirmative particle opposed to no”, deriving it from Saxon gise.[11]

Timeline

  • before 899 – Old English gīse, gēse.[3]
  • before 1200 – yes (Ancrene Riwle).[3]
  • mid-15th century – yes, yes.[2]
  • c. 1600 – yes replaces yea as the reply to positive questions.[5]
  • 1712 – noun.[3][2]
  • 1755 – Johnson: “the affirmative particle opposed to no”.[11]
  • 1820 – verb, to assent.[2][10]
  • 1842 – used as a question, inviting someone to go on.[10]
  • 1921 – verb, to flatter by agreeing.[2]

Modern meaning

Interjection

  1. Used to give an affirmative answer, or to express agreement, consent or approval.
  2. Used, often as a question, to invite someone to speak or go on: Yes? What is it?

Noun

  1. An affirmative reply.
  2. A vote, or a voter, in favour.

Verb

  1. To say yes to; agree with.

Word family

  • yes-man
  • yes-no question
  • yea
  • yeah
  • yep
  • aye
  • is

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.