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Origin and history of troth

troth(n.)

"truth, verity," late 12c., from a phonetic variant of Old English treowð "faithfulness, veracity, truth;" see truth, which is a doublet of this word. Restricted to Midlands and Northern England dialect after 16c., and to certain archaic phrases (such as plight one's troth). Also see betroth.

also from late 12c.

Entries linking to troth

betroth(v.)

c. 1300, betrouthen, "to promise to marry (a woman)," from be-, here probably with a sense of "thoroughly," + Middle English treowðe "truth," from Old English treowðe "truth, a pledge" (see truth and compare troth). It is attested from 1560s as "contract to give (a woman) in marriage to another, affiance." Related: Betrothed; betrothing. Middle English also had a verb truth (treuthen) "become betrothed" (c. 1300).

truth(n.)

Middle English treuth, truþ, from Old English triewð (West Saxon), treowð (Mercian) "faith, faithfulness; fidelity to country, kin, friends; loyalty; disposition to be faithful; veracity, quality of being true; pledge, covenant."

This is reconstructed to be from a Germanic abstract noun from Proto-Germanic *treuwaz "having or characterized by good faith." This in turn is reconstructed in Watkins to be from PIE *drew-o-, a suffixed form of the root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast." With Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)). Compare troth, truce, trust (n.), tree (n.). English and most other IE languages do not have a primary verb for "speak the truth," as a contrast to lie (v.).

The sense of "something that is true, a true statement or proposition" is recorded by mid-14c. The meaning "accuracy, correctness, conformity of thought with fact" is from 1560s. It is attested by late 14c. as "that which is righteous or in accordance with divine standard; true religious doctrine; virtuous conduct." Truth! as an expression of assent or emphasis is by 1530s.

Let [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter. [Milton, "Areopagitica," 1644]

Truth squad in the U.S. political sense is attested in the 1952 U.S. presidential election campaign.

At midweek the Republican campaign was bolstered by an innovation—the "truth squad" ..., a team of senators who trailed whistle-stopping Harry Truman to field what they denounced as his wild pitches. [Life magazine, Oct. 13, 1952]

Truth-serum "injected truth-drug" is by 1925.

*deru-

also *dreu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "be firm, solid, steadfast," with specialized senses "wood," "tree" and derivatives referring to objects made of wood.

It might form all or part of: betroth; Dante; dendrite; dendro-; dendrochronology; dour; Druid; drupe; dryad; dura mater; durable; durance; duration; duress; during; durum; endure; hamadryad; indurate; obdurate; perdurable; philodendron; rhododendron; shelter; tar (n.1) "viscous liquid;" tray; tree; trig (adj.) "smart, trim;" trim; troth; trough; trow; truce; true; trust; truth; tryst.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dru "tree, wood," daru "wood, log, timber;" Greek drys "oak," drymos "copse, thicket," doru "beam, shaft of a spear;" Old Church Slavonic drievo "tree, wood," Serbian drvo "tree," drva "wood," Russian drevo "tree, wood," Czech drva, Polish drwa "wood;" Lithuanian drūtas "firm," derva "pine, wood;" Welsh drud, Old Irish dron "strong," Welsh derw "true," Old Irish derb "sure," Old Irish daur, Welsh derwen "oak;" Albanian drusk "oak;" Old English treo, treow "tree," triewe "faithful, trustworthy, honest."

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    plight
    "to pledge, engage by solemn promise" (obsolete except in archaic plight one's troth), Middle English plighten, from Old English pligtan, plihtan "to endanger, imperil, compromise," verb form of pliht (n.) "danger, risk" (see plight (n.2)), from Proto-Germanic *plehti-, which ult
    promise
    c. 1400, promisse, "a solemn pledge; a vow; a declaration in reference to the future made by one person to another, assuring the latter that the former will do, or not do, a specified act," from Old French promesse "promise, guarantee, assurance" (13c.) and directly from Latin pr
    pledge
    mid-14c., plegge, "surety, bail," from Old French plege (Modern French pleige) "hostage, security, bail," also Anglo-Latin plegium, both probably from Frankish *plegan "to guarantee," from *pleg-, a West Germanic root meaning "have responsibility for" (source also of Old Saxon pl
    assurance
    late 14c., "formal or solemn pledge, promise," also "certainty, full confidence," from Old French asseurance "assurance, promise; truce; certainty, safety, security" (11c., Modern French assurance), from asseurer "to reassure, to render sure" (see assure). The meaning "self-confi
    shindig
    "a dance, a ball; rowdy party, lively gathering," 1851, U.S. colloquial, probably from earlier slang shindy "a spree, row, disturbance, merrymaking" (1821). That also was the name of an early game resembling hockey (1846); in this sense the word is perhaps from shinty (1771), the
    pink
    1570s, common name of Dianthus, a garden plant of various colors; a word of unknown origin. It is perhaps from pink (v.) via the notion of "perforated" (scalloped) petals. Or perhaps it is from Dutch pink "small, narrow," itself obscure (compare pinkie), via the term pinck oogen
    elite
    "a choice or select body, the best part," 1823, from French élite "selection, choice," from Old French eslite (12c.), fem. past participle of elire, elisre "pick out, choose," from Latin eligere "choose" (see election). Borrowed in Middle English as "chosen person" (late 14c.), e
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    1560s, "to cause to multiply by natural generation or reproduction" (transitive), from Latin propagatus, past participle of propagare "set forward, extend, spread, increase; multiply plants by layers, breed," from propago (genitive propaginis) "that which propagates, offspring,"
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    late 14c., professour, "one who teaches a branch of knowledge," especially in a university, from Old French professeur (14c.) and directly from Latin professor "person who professes to be an expert in some art or science; teacher of highest rank," agent noun from profiteri "lay c
    creature
    c. 1300, "anything created," hence "a thing" in general, animate or not, but most commonly "a living being," from Old French creature "created being; all creation" (Modern French créature), from Late Latin creatura "a thing created; the creation; a creature," from creatus, past p

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