Y·wis adv. Certainly; most likely; truly; probably. [Obs. or Archaic]
=\“Ywis,” quod he, “it is full dear, I say.”\= --Chaucer.
She answered me, =\“I-wisse, all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that pleasure that I find in Plato.”\= --Ascham.
A right good knight, and true of word ywis. --Spenser.
Note: ☞ The common form iwis was often written with the prefix apart from the rest of the word and capitalized, as, I wis, I wisse, etc. The prefix was mistaken for the pronoun, I and wis, wisse, for a form of the verb wit to know. See Wis, and cf. Wit, to know.
Our ship, I wis,
Shall be of another form than this. --Longfellow.
◄ ►