Such also was Johnson's opinion of the word, for he represents it to be "from _like_, as by _likelihood_;" and assigns to it the meanings of "probably, likely, perhaps." However, I venture to say, in opposition to so great an authority, that there is no immediate connexion whatever between the words _belike_ and _likely_, with the exception of the accidental similarity in the syllable _like_. We find three different meanings attached to the same form _like_ in English, viz. _like_, similis; _to like_, i. e. to be pleased with; and the present word _belike_, whose real meaning I propose to explain. The first is from the A.-S. _lic_, _gelic_; Low Germ. _lick_; Dutch _gelyk_; Dan. _lig_ (which is said to take its meaning from _lic_, a corpse, _i. e._ an essence), which word also forms our English termination -_ly_, sometimes preserving its old form _like_; as _manly_ or _manlike_, _Godly_ or _Godlike_; A.-S. _werlic_, _Godlic_; to which the Teut. adjectival termination _lich_ is analogous. The second form, _to like_, i. e. to be pleased with, is quite distinct from the former (though it has been thought akin to it on the ground that _simili similis placet_); and is derived from the A.-S. _lician_, which is from _lic_, or _lac_, a gift; Low Germ. _licon_; Dutch _lyken_. The third form, the compound term _belike_ (mostly used adverbially) is from the A.-S. _licgan_, _belicgan_, which means, to lie by, near, or around; to attend, accompany; Low Germ. and Dutch, _liggen_; Germ. _liegen_. In the old German, we have _licken_, _ligin_, _liggen_--_jacere_; and _geliggen_--_se habere_; which last seems to be the exact counterpart of our old English _belike_; and this it was which first suggested to me what I conceive to be its true meaning. We find the simple and compound words in juxtaposition in _Otfridi Evang._, lib. i. cap. 23. 110. in vol. i. p. 221. of Schilter's _Thes. Teut._: "Thoh er nu biliban si, Farames thoh thar er si Zi thiu'z nu sar giligge, Thoh er bigraben ligge." "Etsi vero is (Lazarus) jam mortuus est, Eamus tamen ubi is sit, Quomodo id jam se habeat (quo in statu sint res ejus), Etiamsi jam sepultus jaceat." On which Schilter remarks: "Zi thiu'z nu sar giligge quomodo se res habeat, hodie _standi_ verbo utimur,--wie es stehe, zustehe." We thus see that the radical meaning of the word _belike_ is to lie or be near, to attend; from which it came to express the _simple condition_, or _state of a thing_: and it is in this latter sense that the word is used as an adverbial or rather an interjectional expression, when it may be rendered, _it may be so_, _so it is_, _is it so_, &c. Sometimes ironically, sometimes expressing chance, &c.; in the course of time it became superseded by the more modern term _perhaps_. Instances of similar elliptical expressions are common at the present day, and will readily suggest themselves: the modern _please_, used for entreaty, is analogous.