Meaning

originFrom Middle English iwis, iwys, ywis (“certain, sure”), from Old English ġewiss (“certain, sure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gawiss, from Proto-Germanic *gawissaz (“known, certain, sure”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyd- (“to know”). Cognate with Dutch gewis (“sure”), German gewiss (“certain”), Danish vis (“sure”). More at wit, wis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0