4

I am interested in early versions of English, and while reading I've often encountered the word wottest being used. For example:

Then he said, "Galahad, son, wottest thou what I hold between my hands?"
"Nay," said Sir Galahad, "but if ye tell me."
"This is," said he, "the holy dish wherein I eat the lamb on Shrove-Thursday... Malory's History of King Arthur and the Quest of the Holy Grail, Sir Thomas Mallory

Etymology Online has no entry for "wottest".

My questions are these: What does it mean? When do we use it (if it is still used today)?

JEL
  • 32,781
Mohamed.Lalioui
  • 41
  • 3
    It is the second person singular present form of wit (to know): "Wottest thou not what to do?" - "Do you not know what to do?" – Mick Nov 24 '16 at 22:07
  • 1
    @Mick That'a impressive. How about an answer to that effect? – Richard Kayser Nov 24 '16 at 22:15
  • @RichardKayser It's finding supporting information. I'm trying to find references for the tenses and persons. – Mick Nov 24 '16 at 22:17
  • 1
    Is this not just Googleable? – BladorthinTheGrey Nov 24 '16 at 22:30
  • @BladorthinTheGrey I'm having trouble finding detailed information on the verb. The tenses must be tabulated somewhere. – Mick Nov 24 '16 at 22:32
  • 2
    Wottest is Early Modern English. Old English had wast there. This smells like General Reference to me. – tchrist Nov 24 '16 at 22:34
  • @tchrist It would be good to have links to usable and reliable information about this period of English -- verb forms, etc. So far, I have not found any useful info with Google. Maybe this question can be moved to ELU meta at some point. – Mick Nov 24 '16 at 22:59
  • See a simple Google search for wottest define – Alan Carmack Nov 24 '16 at 23:21
  • The simple answer is that 'wottest' is not Old English, but rather late Middle English or, at a stretch not supported by many scholars, Early Modern English. In Middle English, the meaning is still quite close to 'have seen' and thus 'know'; 'wot' generally is a variant form of 'wit', which latter is still in use in limited contexts, to wit, this one; it is otherwise archaic, and 'wot' is entirely obsolete. In the particular text cited, however, 'wottest' is used as an archaism for atmosphere in a translation to Modern English from a Middle English adaptation of Old-Middle French writings. – JEL Nov 25 '16 at 03:38
  • Looking at the history of the question, I see that some of the problems were the result of a liberal re-interpretation of the question in the first edits (not the OP's). I will endeavor to reverse those problems with another edit. – JEL Nov 25 '16 at 03:42

1 Answers1

3

It is the second person singular present form of wit (to know): "Wottest thou not what to do?" - "Do you not know what to do?"

Mick
  • 9,410