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START / NODE 708Present-Day English12th century–today
troth
Pledged fidelity, good faith, or betrothal; a surviving historical twin of truth rather than a later poetic fabrication.
“Troth and truth descend through the same Old English faith-and-loyalty noun; modern English divided their jobs.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishtroth
pledged fidelity, good faith, or betrothal
↑GO DEEPER
Middle English · Middle Englishtrouthtruth, troth, pledged fidelity
- SOUND CHANGE
- Modern troth continues Middle English trouth with regular English spelling and sound development.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- Pledged fidelity narrows a historical noun that also covered truth and loyalty.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- CHRONOLOGY
- Merriam-Webster reports noun use in the twelfth century.
2 CITATIONSTroth — Definition, Word History, and First Known UseDefinitions, Word History, and First Known Use Troth — American Heritage DictionaryHeadword etymology AUDIT CANONICAL EDGE 688 ↗
Supplies Middle English trouth, the fidelity senses, and twelfth-century noun horizon.
ORIGINAL ↗Independently identifies the historical truth variant.
ORIGINAL ↗THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
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