verdad

Forms

verdad f (plural verdades)^[1] Old Spanish verdad and verdat, with an archaic variant vertat in the Auto de los Reyes Magos and in Leonese documents of the 12th–13th centuries.^[2][3] Verdá is a common pronunciation, and the Asturian form.^[1][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vēritās (“truth, reality”), which Wiktionary and Gómez de Silva derive from the accusative form.^[2][5][1][6] The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid, and vertat is an archaic variant.^[2] Corominas and Wiktionary treat it as inherited, while Cejador calls it semi-learned, and Bénaben and Wikcionario a learned borrowing.^{[2][1][7][8][9]}

The same Latin word is Portuguese verdade, Galician verdade, Asturian verdá, Aragonese verdat, Occitan verdat, Old French verté and Italian verità.^[10][11][1] The popular Old French form gave way to the learned French vérité.^[12] Its derivative verdadero is recorded, in an Aragonese form with /t/, as early as 1029.^[2]

The Latin noun is formed from vērus (“true”) with the suffix -tās.^[1][13] Old Spanish vero “true” was an adjective in the Cid and in Berceo, and then survived only in phrases; de veras remains.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) has the noun when the Cid tells his knights „Dezirvos he la verdad” “I will tell you the truth”.^[14] Menéndez Pidal's vocabulary of the poem gives the senses “reality, the true state of a thing”, “speech that agrees with what one thinks” and “truthfulness”, and phrases such as por verdad “truly”.^[15]

Semantic evolution

In the Cid esto non será verdad “this shall not be true” was a way of rejecting a proposal.^[15] Alfonso X's prose has the main senses of the modern dictionary: agreement of things with the idea of them, of what is said with what is thought, and an undeniable proposition.^[16] Covarrubias quotes the proverb la verdad adelgaza, pero no quiebra “truth wears thin but does not break”, and Autoridades says that in the highest sense God is the eternal truth.^[17][18]

The plural verdades for frank, unflattering words of reproach, as in decir dos verdades, was in the Academy's dictionary by 1843.^[19] The definitions of 1899 are, almost word for word, those of the current dictionary.^[20][5] Cejador called the adjectival use un discurso verdad “a real speech” a gallicism.^[7] In Andalusia, as elsewhere, ¿verdad? is a tag that asks for agreement and serves as a conversational filler.^[21][1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid has verdad and uerdat.^[2][14]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos has non es uerdad “it is not true”.^[14]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario uses uerdat for a true statement.^[16]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin veritas as its equivalent.^[22]
• 1521 – the first record from the Americas, de verdad lo siento, in Puerto Rico.^[23]
• 1611 – Covarrubias quotes la verdad adelgaza, pero no quiebra.^[17]
• 1843 – the Academy's dictionary records decir dos verdades.^[19]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology.^[24]

Meanings

Noun

1. truth: agreement of things with the idea the mind forms of them.^[5][1]
2. Agreement of what one says with what one feels or thinks: Dime la verdad.^[5]
3. The quality of a thing that stays always the same, without change.^[5]
4. A judgement or proposition that cannot reasonably be denied.^[5]
5. Truthfulness.^[5]
6. (usually plural) Blunt words of reproach: Le cantó cuatro verdades.^[5][25]
7. Reality; a fact.^[5][1]

Interjection

1. ¿verdad? right?, isn't it?, asking for agreement: Hace frío, ¿verdad?^[1][21]

Word family

• verdadero
• posverdad

Related words

• veraz
• verificar
• vero
• verosímil
• averiguar
• Latin vēritās
• Portuguese verdade

Usage notes

Common phrases are de verdad “really, seriously”, a decir verdad “to tell the truth”, en verdad “truly” and la pura verdad “the plain truth”.^[5][1][7] A verdad de Perogrullo is a truism.^[26]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 789
3. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. verdad
4. ^ Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000), Diccionariu de la Llingua Asturiana, Uviéu: ALLA; online at https://mas.academiadelallingua.com/diccionariu, p. s.v. verdá
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. verdad
6. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. verdad
7. ^ a b c Cejador y Frauca, Julio (1908–1914), Tesoro de la lengua castellana: origen y vida del lenguaje, 12 vols., Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. s.v. verdad
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. verdad
9. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. verdad
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. veritas
11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 7094
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. vérité
13. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. veritas
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. verdad
15. ^ a b Menéndez Pidal, Ramón (1908–1911), Cantar de Mio Cid: texto, gramática y vocabulario, 3 vols., Madrid: Bailly-Baillière, p. 486
16. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. verdad
17. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1380
18. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 458
19. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 738
20. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 1013
21. ^ a b Alcalá Venceslada, Antonio (1951), Vocabulario andaluz, Madrid: Real Academia Española, p. 644
22. ^ Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 429
23. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. verdad
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 1081
25. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 500
26. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. verdad