sooth

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English sooth, from Old English sōþ (“truth; true, actual, real”), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþ, from Proto-Germanic *sanþaz (“truth; true”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁sónts, *h₁s-ont- (“being, existence, real, true”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”).

Akin to Old Saxon sōþ (“true”), Old High German sand (“true”), Old Norse sannr (“true”), Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌰 (sunja, “truth”), Old English synn (“sin, guilt"; literally, "being the one guilty”). More at sin. See also soothe, derived from the same Old English word.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /suːθ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -uːθ

Noun

sooth (uncountable)

(archaic) Truth.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
  In sooth, I know not why I am so sad.
- 1873 August, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[I. Tales of a Wayside Inn.] The Student’s Tale. Emma and Eginhard.”, in Aftermath, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 25:
  […] "O Eginhard, disclose
  The meaning and the mystery of the rose";
  And trembling he made answer: "In good sooth,
  Its mystery is love, its meaning youth!"
(obsolete) Augury; prognostication.
- 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “December. Ægloga Duodecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:
  The sooth of birds, by beating of their wings.
(obsolete) Blandishment; cajolery.
(obsolete) Reality; fact.

Derived terms

Translations

truth

Aragonese: verdat f
Armenian: ճշմարտություն (hy) (čšmartutʻyun)
Bulgarian: истина (bg) f (istina)
Catalan: veritat (ca)
Dutch: waarheid (nl)
Galician: verdade (gl) f
German: Wahrheit (de) f
Japanese: 真実 (ja) (shinjitsu)
Latin: veritas (la) f
Occitan: veritat (oc) f
Portuguese: verdade (pt) f
Romansch: verdad f
Russian: и́стина (ru) f (ístina), пра́вда (ru) f (právda)
Spanish: verdad (es) f

Adjective

sooth (comparative soother, superlative soothest)

(archaic) True.
(obsolete) Pleasing; delightful; sweet.
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
  The soothest shepherd that e'er pip'd on plains
- 1819, John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza XXX, page 98:
  With jellies soother than the creamy curd,
  And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon; […]

true

Esperanto: vera (eo)

Related terms

Adverb

sooth (not comparable)

(archaic) In truth; indeed.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 9:
  That shall I sooth (said he) to you declare.

Etymology 2

Verb

sooth (third-person singular simple present sooths, present participle soothing, simple past and past participle soothed)

Obsolete form of soothe.
- 1603, Plutarch, “Of the Nouriture and Education of Children”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 15:
  To be ſhort, a wretched and curſed generation they be; hypocrites, pretending friendſhip, but they can not skill of plaine dealing and franke ſpeech. Rich men they claw, ſooth up and flatter: the poore they contemne and deſpiſe.
- 1649, Joseph Hall, Resolutions and Decisions of Divers Practicall cases of Conscience:
  Hereupon it is, that these sportulary preachers are fain to sooth up their many masters […]
- 1697, [William] Congreve, The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 1:
  Muſick has Charms to ſooth a ſavage Breaſt, / To ſoften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
- 1714, J[ohn] Gay, “Saturday; or, The Flights”, in The Shepherd’s Week. In Six Pastorals, London: […] R. Burleigh […], →OCLC, page 56, lines 47–50:
  Not ballad-ſinger plac’d above the croud, / Sings with a note ſo ſhrilling ſweet and loud, / Nor pariſh clerk who calls the pſalm ſo clear, / Like Bowzybeus ſooths th’ attentive ear.
- 1811, Andrew Scott, “Answer to Mr. J. M.’s Epistle”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Kelso, Roxburghshire: […] Alexander Leadbetter, for the author; and sold by W[illiam] Creech, […], →OCLC, page 123:
  “Wi’ hat in hand,” sweet lass, quo I, / “Wer't in my power to sooth thy sigh, / My hame-bor’d whistle I wad try, / An’ gie’t a screed, / Atween whar Tiviot murmurs by, / An’ bonny Tweed.”
- 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 100:
  Elinor paid her every quiet and unobtrusive attention in her power; and she would have tried to sooth and tranquillize her still more, had not Marianne entreated her, with all the eagerness of the most nervous irritability, not to speak to her for the world.