me thinksとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From 古期英語 mē þynceþ (from þyncan (“to seem”)); equivalent to me (indirect object pronoun, as in “show me it”) + think (“to seem”). Compare synonymous Flemish me dunkt, German mir/mich dünkt, Old Norse mér þykkir (Icelandic mér þykir). Compare meseems.

発音

• (英国発音) IPA: /mɪˈθɪŋks/
• (General American) IPA: /miˈθiŋks/
• 韻: -ɪŋks

短縮形

methinks (past tense methought)

1. (sometimes archaic or humorous) It seems to me.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     methinks the truth should live from age to age,

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

   • 1862 February, George Augustus [Henry] Sala, “The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous; a Narrative in Plain English, […] Chapter the Fourth. My Grandmother Dies, and I am Left Alone, without So Much as a Name.”, in George Augustus Sala, editor, Temple Bar: A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, volume IV, London: Office of "Temple Bar," 122 Fleet Street; Ward and Lock, 158 Fleet Street; New York, N.Y.: Willmer and Rogers, →OCLC, page 304:

     And then methought my dream changed, and two Great Giants with heading-axes came striding over the bed, […]

   • 2003, “Bringing Up Buster”, in Arrested Development:

     Dr. Tobias Funke: Methinks a cupid I shall play.

使用する際の注意点

In Early Modern English, used at least 150 times by William Shakespeare; in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer, me thinketh; and in Old English by Alfred the Great, Old English mē þynceþ.

派生語

• methinks the lady doth protest too much

参考

• methought (archaic)
• meseems (obsolete)
• mehopes

参照

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “methinks”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.