lexica Lexica → Word → truth


Letter nametee

Definition for truth
DA Name:truth
Source Language:Egyptian hieroglyphs

Source Language Words:

Source Text:


From 8th Century Old Norse troth “faithfulness to the laws of the gods”. From ancient Egyptian god Thoth the god of wisdom and faithfulness to religious laws. From 13th Century English triewe “of persons steadfast in adherence to a leader, to a principle or cause to one's promises, or faith; firm/loyal in allegiance”. Of the original meanings of the word, the most important concepts are loyalty and consistency to religious laws. Secondly it is important to recognize that it is the consistent individual display of loyalty that underpins the earliest meaning of the word "true". In the middle of the 16th Century, truth confirmed its status as a scientific term with the meaning " agreeing with a standard, pattern, or rule; exact, accurate, precise, correct, right" (1550). It wasn't until the 17th Century that the word true/truth took on the added meaning linking it to a FICTIONAL concept of an underlying reality and linking it with the concept of fact, the 17C definition being " of a statement or belief consistent with FACT agreeing with REALITY representing the things as it is." In strict legal sense, truth is interpreted to its ancient meaning, in contrast to its modern scientific meaning--hence the oath of a witness is legally and literally to troth/thoth "faithfulness to the laws of the gods".