v. (pa. t.) Now arch. or dial. [Pa. t. of QUETHE v. to say.] Said.
1. Used with sbs., or pronouns of the first and third persons, to indicate that the words of a speaker are being repeated.
The vb. is always placed before the subject, and the clause is commonly inserted parenthetically towards the beginning of the words quoted, but may also precede or follow the whole sentence or speech.
α. 3 cwað, 3–4 quað, quad, (3 quat, hwat), 3–5 quaþ; 3 pl. queþen.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 67. ‘Hlauerd,’ cwað he, ‘hwat mai ic don [etc.].’
c. 1250. Gen. & Exod., 1313. Quat abraham, ‘god sal bi-sen [etc.].’ Ibid., 3331. Quad moyses, ‘loc! her nu bread.’
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., 432/41. ‘Leoue Moder,’ queþen þe sones.
c. 1305. Andrew, 33, in E. E. P. (1862), 99. Hou miȝte hit beo, quaþ þe Iustise, þat his wille were þerto.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. I. 41. ‘A Madame Merci!’ quaþ I ‘me likeþ wel þi wordes.’
β. 3 pl. quoðen; 4 quoþ, coþe, coth, cuth, 4– quoth, (6 qwoth).
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2993. Quoðen ðo wiches clerkes ‘ðis fortoken godes gastes is.’
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7575 (Cott.). Þou es, coth golias, bot ded.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 776. ‘Now bone hostel’ coþe þe burne.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 161. To speik, quoth scho, I sall nought spar.
1581. Nowell & Day, in Confer., I. (1583), E iiij b. The fyre (quoth wee) hathe heate and lyght.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., III. vii. § 6. No, Quoth the King, I will not be both party and judg.
c. 1705. Pope, Jan. & May, 222. ‘I say,’ quoth he, ‘by heav’n the man’s to blame.’
1782. Cowper, John Gilpin, 25. Quoth Mrs. Gilpin, ‘That’s well said.’
1829. Hood, Eug. Aram, xiii. ‘And well’ quoth he, ‘I know for truth.’
1838. Lytton, Alice, 146. ‘I know no man I respect more than Maltravers,’ quoth the admiral.
1884. Browning, Ferishtah’s Fancies, Mihrab Shah, 1. Quoth an inquirer, ‘Praise the Merciful!’
γ. 4 quot, cod, 4–7 quod (the prevailing form c. 1350–1550).
13[?]. Cursor M., 5005 (Gött.). ‘Say me,’ quot iacob, ‘hou es þis?’ Ibid., 19311 (Edinb.). ‘Lauerdingis, it es selcuþe,’ cod þai.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. II. 5. ‘Loke on þe lufthond,’ quod heo ‘and seo wher [he] stondeþ.’
c. 1420. Sir Amadace (Camd.), xxxviii. Quod the quite knyȝte, ‘Quat mon is this’?
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VI. 133. ‘Quhom scornys thow?’ quod Wallace, ‘quha lerd the?’
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VIII. Prol. 122. Quod I, Lovne, thou leis.
1549. Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Tim. 2. I haue not chosen (quod he) out of an other mannes flocke.
c. 1620. A. Hume, Brit. Tongue (1865), 18. Be quhat reason? quod the Doctour.
δ. 5 quo, 6 ko, ka, 8 Sc. co’, 8–9 quo’.
c. 1450. Merlin, 33. ‘In feith,’ quo the oon, ‘I sholde suffer grete myschef er he had eny harm.’
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., III. iii. (Arb.), 44. Bawawe what ye say (ko I) … Nay I feare him not (ko she).
1756. Toldervy, Hist. 2 Orphans, I. 39. Marry (quo’ she) I think it is the province of our elder brother.
c. 1774. Ferguson, Iron Kirk Bell, Poems (1845), 44. Quo’ he … ‘This bell o’mine’s a trick.’
1818. Scott, Rob Roy, xxiv. Whae’s Mr. Robert Campbell, quo’ he?
1893. Crockett, Stickit Minister, 127. ‘Horse or mule,’ quo’ she [etc.].
† b. Used at the end of a piece to introduce the name of the author. Obs. (Chiefly Sc.)
a. 1500. King’s Quair (S.T.S.), 48. Explicit, &c. Quod Jacobus Primus.
1508. Dunbar, Lament, *101. Quod Dunbar quhen he was seik.
c. 1550. Lusty Juventus. Finis. Quod R. Weuer.
1583. Satir. Poems Reform., xlv. *1118. Finis. Quod R. S.
[1788. Burns, Friars Carse, 55. Quod the Beadsman of Nith-side.]
† 2. Used interrogatively with a pronoun of the second person, with the same force as QUOTHA. Obs.
The form quothee may be a var. of QUOTHA.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. ii. (Arb.), 17. Enamoured, quod you?… Enamoured ka? Ibid., III. iv. 54. Scribler (ko you).
1573. New Custom, I. ii. Primitiue Constitution (quodes stowe) as much as my sleeve!
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 12. Rich, quoth you? They are rich indeede toward the deuill and the world.
a. 1600. Grim, the Collier of Croydon, II. iv. (1662), 30. As it falls! quoth ye, marry a foul fall is it.
1681. T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 5 (1713), I. 28. Earn … And what Trade do they intend to drive? Jest. What Trade, quothee?
¶ Hence (erroneously) Quothing, saying.
1864. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., III. 402. The owner had the power of transmitting the possession to an heir by bequest, by quothing or speaking forth the name of his intended successor to the lord.
