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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Yes \Yes\, adv. [OE. yis, [yogh]is, [yogh]es, [yogh]ise, AS.
gese, gise; probably fr. ge['a] yea sw[=a] so. [root]188.
See {Yea}, and {So}.]
Ay; yea; -- a word which expresses affirmation or consent; --
opposed to {no}.
[1913 Webster]

Note: Yes is used, like yea, to enforce, by repetition or
addition, something which precedes; as, you have done
all this -- yes, you have done more. "Yes, you despise
the man books confined." --Pope.
[1913 Webster]

Note: "The fine distinction between `yea' and `yes,' `nay'
and `no,' that once existed in English, has quite
disappeared. `Yea' and `nay' in Wyclif's time, and a
good deal later, were the answers to questions framed
in the affirmative. `Will he come?' To this it would
have been replied, `Yea' or `Nay', as the case might
be. But, `Will he not come?' To this the answer would
have been `Yes' or `No.' Sir Thomas More finds fault
with Tyndale, that in his translation of the Bible he
had not observed this distinction, which was evidently
therefore going out even then, that is, in the reign of
Henry VIII.; and shortly after it was quite forgotten."
--Trench.
[1913 Webster]