quotha

quotha

English

Etymology

From quoth +‎ a (“he”) (dialectal, obsolete).

Interjection

quotha

1. (archaic) Forsooth; indeed.
   • 1554, John Gwynneth, A Manifeste Detection of the Notable Falshed of That Part of John Frithes Boke Whiche He Calleth His Foundacion, London, Chapter 30,

     Here[ticus]. Then I praie you tell me, when we shall mete agayne:

     Cath[olicus]. Mete againe? why art thou not well yet?

     Here[ticus]. Well yet quotha? Mary sir all this is nothynge to that I looke for.

   • 1678, Thomas d’Urfey, The Fool Turn’d Critick, London: James Magnes and Richard Bentley, Act II, Scene 2, p. 15,

     1st. Fid[dler]. Will it please you Gentlemen to hear a new Lesson, or a Song A-la-mode.

     Sir For[mal]. S’bud you impertinent Raskal get you gone, / Or I’le so batter that Musical sconce of yours. / Song A-la-mode Quotha, I had as lieve hear a / Gibb Catt howl, and as much pleasure I take in’t.

   • 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, London: F. Newbery, Act I, pp. 2-3,

     Mrs. Hardcastle. […] My son is not to live by his learning. I don’t think a boy wants much learning to spend fifteen hundred a year.

     Hardcastle. Learning, quotha! A mere composition of tricks and mischief.

   • 1853, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in “My Novel”; Or Varieties in English Life […], volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, OCLC 457185834, book first, page 30:

     A pretty way to conciliate 'little tempers' indeed, to add to the offence of spoiling the fish the crime of bringing an unexpected friend to eat it. Pot luck, quotha, when the pot's boiled over this half hour!

   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 596:

     The four boys pumped up their hate to hissing steam. Harmless, quotha. Innocent, forsooth.