It might be thought that English already had a native word, likely, for probability concepts, but that is not the case. Likely is the English version of the Latin verisimilis, and the first uses of likely and its derivatives are in the Canterbury Tales, of about the same date as Trevisa.118 The early uses of probable and likely in English are nothing like “It will probably rain tomorrow” but more like “What if ever either of the said premyssis concludyng for feith, y have not oonli likli euydencis, whiche ben clepid in scolis of logik ‘probable euydencis’ or ‘probabilitees,’ but y have sure
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