There's an expression in "Die Wahlverwandtschaften" of Goethe:
Herr Mittler ist in den Schlosshof gesprengt. Er hat uns alle zusammengeschrieen, wir sollen sie aufsuchen, wir sollen Sie fragen, ob es not tue.
'Ob es not tut', rief er uns nach, 'hoert ihr? Aber geschwind, geschwind!'
I tried to find this expression in Ge-En and Ge-Ge dictionaries, but neither of them (Collings, dict.cc, linguee.de, Duden) provided me with an explanation of the phrase.
I found an explanation in Google-books, it says that it means "is there need", and it somehow explains the meaning of the whole phrase (the Mittler is asking if there's a need in his service), but I need a better source than one book in G-books. Is there any? Could anybody explain me the grammar of this phrase and where it comes from?