PERMANENT DISPUTE RECORD
ALL DISPUTES ↗One scholarly question. Every attached source. The present editorial state, without pretending the last word has been written.
The historical base is Middle English trouth or trouthe, where the modern truth and troth spellings were not yet cleanly separated; mapping it to only one modern headword overstates the evidence.
/bɪˈtrɔːθ/ · verb
To promise in marriage; a Middle English prefixed formation built on the same historical noun that yielded truth and troth.
DIRECT CLAIM EVIDENCE
A citation is not a vote. Each record says whether the work supports, challenges, contradicts, or contextualizes the position—and identifies the exact locus used.
Uses the unsplit historical form and a troth cross-reference.
Etymology: bi-/be- plus trouth; see trothExplicitly gives both modern glosses for the historical base.
Etymology: be- plus trouthe, truth or trothThe reviewed evidence does not yet warrant collapsing the competing or incomplete analyses into one secure answer.