FromMiddle Englishsooth, fromOld Englishsōþ(“truth; true, actual, real”), fromProto-West Germanic*sanþ, fromProto-Germanic*sanþaz(“truth; true”), fromProto-Indo-European*h₁sónts,*h₁s-ont-(“being, existence, real, true”), fromProto-Indo-European*h₁es-(“to be”).
Akin toOld Saxonsōþ(“true”),Old High Germansand(“true”),Old Norsesannr(“true”),Gothic𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌰(sunja,“truth”),Old Englishsynn(“sin, guilt"; literally, "being the one guilty”). More atsin. See alsosoothe, derived from the same Old English word.
sooth (uncountable)
- (archaic)Truth.
c.1596–1598 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act I, scene i]:Insooth, 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.”, inAftermath, Boston, Mass.:James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, lateTicknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co.,→OCLC,page25:[…] "O Eginhard, disclose
The meaning and the mystery of the rose";
And trembling he made answer: "In goodsooth,
Its mystery is love, its meaning youth!"
- (obsolete)Augury;prognostication.
- (obsolete)Blandishment;cajolery.
- (obsolete)Reality;fact.
sooth (comparativesoother,superlativesoothest)
- (archaic)True.
- (obsolete)Pleasing;delightful;sweet.
1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited byH[enry] Lawes,A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] forHvmphrey Robinson, […], published1637,→OCLC; reprinted asComus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.:Dodd, Mead & Company,1903,→OCLC:Thesoothest shepherd that e'er pip'd on plains
1819,John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes”, inLamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] forTaylor and Hessey, […], published1820,→OCLC, stanza XXX,page98:With jelliessoother than the creamy curd,
And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon;[…]
sooth (notcomparable)
- (archaic) In truth;indeed.
sooth (third-person singular simple presentsooths,present participlesoothing,simple past and past participlesoothed)
- Obsolete form ofsoothe.
1603,Plutarch, “Of the Nouriture and Education of Children”, inPhilemon Holland, transl.,The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield,→OCLC,page15: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 tosooth up their many masters[…]
1697,[William] Congreve,The Mourning Bride, a Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […],→OCLC, Act I,page 1:Muſick has Charms toſooth a ſavage Breaſt, / To ſoften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
1714,J[ohn] Gay, “Saturday; or, The Flights”, inThe Shepherd’s Week. In Six Pastorals, London: […] R. Burleigh […],→OCLC,page56, lines47–50: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 Bowzybeusſooths th’ attentive ear.
1811, Andrew Scott, “Answer to Mr. J. M.’s Epistle”, inPoems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Kelso, Roxburghshire: […] Alexander Leadbetter, for the author; and sold byW[illiam] Creech, […],→OCLC,page123:“Wi’ hat in hand,” sweet lass, quo I, / “Wer't in my power tosooth 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, inSense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published byT[homas] Egerton, […],→OCLC,page100:Elinor paid her every quiet and unobtrusive attention in her power; and she would have tried tosooth 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.
FromMiddle Englishsouth, fromOld Englishsūþ.
sooth (notcomparable)
- south
sooth (notcomparable)
- south
sooth (uncountable)
- south
compass points: [edit]
