treowþ

Forms

trēowþ f (strong ō-stem; genitive singular trēowþe, nominative plural trēowþa)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *triwwiþō (“promise, contract”), an abstract noun in *-iþō made from *triwwiz (“faithful”); by surface analysis it is from Old English trēowe + -þ.^[1][2] Holthausen compares Old High German gitriuwida and Old Norse tryggð (“faith, truce”), used in the plural.^[3][4] Köbler traces the family to Proto-Indo-European *drewo- (“firm, faithful”), from the word for tree, after Pokorny.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is the Old English Orosius, in a manuscript of the first half of the tenth century, on the people of a besieged city: hie untweogendlice nanra treowþa him ne wendon “they certainly expected no good faith (no pledge of safety) for themselves”.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word means truth and good faith, fidelity and loyalty, and a covenant or pledge;^[7][3][2] Bosworth and Toller note that the plural is sometimes used with the force of a singular.^[7][3][2] The sense “covenant” appears in the Old English Exodus, where God remembers minra treowða þe ic Abrame behet “my covenant that I promised Abraham”.^[6] In Cnut's laws it is the faith one owes, mid trywðan.^[8]

The word lived on as Middle English trouthe, which gave both English truth and troth;^[9] Etymonline describes them as doublets, troth being a phonetic variant later kept in a few set phrases such as plight one's troth.^[9]

Timeline

• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – nanra treowþa “no good faith” in the Old English Orosius.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. truth, good faith, honour.^[7][2]
2. fidelity, loyalty.^[7][3]
3. a covenant, a pledge of good faith.^[7][2]

Word family

• ġetrēowþ
• untrēowþ

Descendants

• Middle English trouthe (→ English truth; English troth; Scots trowth; Scots treuth)^[1]

Related words

• trēowe
• trēow

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. tréowþ
3. ^ a b c d Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 353
4. ^ Cleasby, Richard; Vigfússon, Guðbrandur (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 643
5. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
6. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
7. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 214
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com