GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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1.       
   Ywis , adv. [OE. ywis, iwis, AS. gewis certain; akin to D. gewis, G. gewiss, and E. wit to know. See Wit to know, and Y-.] Certainly; most likely; truly; probably. [Obs. or Archaic]
   1913 Webster
   “Ywis,” quod he, “it is full dear, I say.”
   Chaucer.
   
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   She answered me, “I-wisse, all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that pleasure that I find in Plato.”
   Ascham.
   
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   A right good knight, and true of word ywis.
   Spenser.
   
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   ☞ 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.
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   Our ship, I wis,
   Shall be of another form than this.
   Longfellow.
   
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