Comments on: Sobeit and So Be It

By: Lily

Lily — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:14:17 +0000

Hmmm, I would also have guessed a relationship, or at least meaning parallel with ‘albeit’. Then again, I’d never heard of ’sobeit’ before today, so I guess I live and learn.

By: Shirley, in Berkeley

Shirley, in Berkeley — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:06:20 +0000

Sobeit sounds like legal-speak to me. Working as a temp for a lawyer, I asked about their dropping the “e” from “therefore” and was told that it was legal usage: “therefor” meant “for that,” and with an “e” on the end, meant “hence.”

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:31:28 +0000

I’ve never seen ’sobeit’ as a single word, but would’ve guessed that it comes from the same era as ‘albeit’.

Until, that is, dictionary.com suggested sobeit being from 1575 and albeit being from 1385. Both words – if the first page of google results are to be believed – would seem to be far more often defined than they are actually used.

By: Brad K.

Brad K. — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:25:31 +0000

Thank you, Maeve. That last example, Sobeit as a noun, gave me a good laugh. I love it!