Literary notes about aforesaid (AI summary)
In literary texts, “aforesaid” functions as a formal device for referring back to something previously mentioned, thereby establishing continuity and avoiding redundancy. Its usage spans a range of genres—from historical narratives where it clarifies the identity of characters or events, as seen in [1] and [2] from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, to legal or official descriptions such as those in [3] and [4] from John Stow’s work. The term is also employed in creative literature to evoke an archaic or ceremonious tone, as observed in Shakespeare’s treatment in [5] and the detailed, almost technical, usage noted in [6]. Through these varied applications, “aforesaid” not only links the text’s earlier content with later commentary but also reinforces a sense of authority and precision in the narrative voice.
- This then, dearly beloved, it behoves you to communicate to our aforesaid brother, that he, being placed where he is at
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Saint the Venerable Bede - This child being seized by the aforesaid pestilence, when his last hour was come, called three times upon one of the virgins
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Saint the Venerable Bede - Given in the month and indiction aforesaid.
— from Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England by Saint the Venerable Bede - Yet to begin again at the said Conduit by the Old Exchange, on the north side thereof is a large street that runneth up to Newgate, as is aforesaid.
— from The Survey of London by John Stow - Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool; Thersites is a fool; and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool.
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - The determinative pronoun is , that , the aforesaid , the one , is declined as follows: Singular.
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane
