AboutTed Nesbitt Expertise I have an interest in the meanings of words and phrases, as well as how and when they became part of the English language. I enjoy
researching idioms, colloquialisms, dialects, and obscurities of
all kinds. I prefer short questions on a particular subject, and
I will not accept lengthy research projects or term papers. NOTE: ALLEXPERTS CLAIMS THAT I TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN AND FROM LATIN TO ENGLISH. I DO NOT. ALLEXPERTS REFUSES TO DELETE THE LATIN-TO-ENGLISH SERVICE -- ONE THAT I DO NOT PROVIDE.
TRUST ME ON THIS: ALLEXPERTS IS WRONG. I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LANGUAGE. LOOK FOR A LANGUAGE EXPERT INSTEAD. ETYMOLOGY AND TRANSLATING SERVICES ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. ALLEXPERTS SHOULD KNOW THAT. ALLEXPERTS DOES NOT KNOW THAT. I HAVE TRIED FOR MANY YEARS TO GET THEM TO CHANGE. THEY WILL NOT. SORRY, BUT I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN.
Experience I am the bibliographic instruction and reference librarian at a public
college. My master's thesis concerns William Faulkner's tragic novels. I formerly taught advanced placement English at two schools in the Philadelphia area.
I have been a member of the grammar and writing section of Allexperts
for more than a year.
Education/Credentials Masters degrees in English, philosophy, and library science.
Question Where did the phrase by all means come from and how was it originally used?
Answer Dear Thomas:
This phrase is very peculiar. The original version was "by all ways" and the NEGATIVE version was "in no ways." [Incidentally, the old English spellings were "wayes" and "wyse" for "ways."] Both of these are now considered obsolete. The "all ways" or "all means" is the positive view, and it means "certainly." The negative version, of course, means "certainly NOT."
"The Oxford English Dictionary" -- the ultimate source for word and phrase origins -- gives the year 1593 as the first WRITTEN usage of "by all means." It appeared in one of Hooker's ecclesiatical treatises.
I am pasting in below the other EARLY usages of both "by all means" and "by no means."
Although these are the earliest WRITTEN usages, the phrase most likely was used ORALLY for many years before it was written down. "By all means" was a colloquial expression used to convey absolute certainly.
Ted Nesbitt
by no ways (obs.), by no means: in no possible way, in no respect, in no degree. by all means: in every way possible. (These have gradually come to be used as strong expressions respectively of negation and affirmation.)
c1340 Cursor M. 12908 (Fairf.) at is na ferly be na wayes. c1430 Freemasonry 626 ef thou wolt not thyselve pray, Latte non other mon by no way. c1489 CAXTON Sonnes of Aymon 235 By no wyse we maye not scape. 1593 HOOKER Eccl. Pol. Pref. ii. §7 To argue and by all means to reason for it. 1713 Guardian No. 140 (1756) II. 224, I can by no means consent to spoil the skin of my pretty country-women. 1768 GRAY in Corr. w. Nicholls (1843) 85, I would wish by all means to oblige and serve Temple. 1813 JANE AUSTEN Pride & Prej. (1846) 29 Jane was by no means better.
