I
This letter represents a finger, and is called in Hebrew yod
or jod (a hand).
I
per se [I by itself], i.e. without compeer,
pre-eminently so.
If then your I [yes] agreement want,
I to your I [yes] must answer, `No.'
Therefore leave off your spelling plea,
And let your I [yes] be I per se.
i.s. let your yes be yes decidedly.
Wits Interpreter, p. 116.
Many other letters are similarly used; as, A per se. (See
A-Per-Se.) Thus in Restituta Eliza is called “The E per ce
of all that ere hath been.” So again, “C,” signifies a crier, from “O
yes! O yes!” We have “Villanies discovered by ... the help of a new
crier, called O per se [i.e. superior to his predecessors].”
1666.
Shakespeare, in Troilus and Cressida, 1, 2, even uses the
phrase “a very man per se” = A 1.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 
|
