Note 7 — Chapter V
Reading edition
“Yea” and “nay,” in Wiclif’s time, and a good deal later, were the answers to questions framed in the affirmative. “Will he come?” To this would have been replied “yea” and “nay,” as the case might be. But “Will he not come?” To this the answer would have been “yes” or “no.” Sir T. More finds fault with Tyndal that in his translation of the Bible he had not observed this distinction, which was evidently going out even then,—that is, in the reign of Henry VIII.; and, shortly after, it was quite forgotten.—Trench’s Study of Words.