véracité

Forms

véracité f (plural véracités)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned formation on from Latin vērāx (“truthful”), with the suffix -ité.^[2][3][4] The Latin adjective is from vērus (“true”), the source of vrai.^[3][5] Littré gives the Latin noun vērācitās as the model.^[6] The same Latin adjective was borrowed as vérace.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found once in 1458, in Arnoul Gréban's Passion, for the quality of what expresses the truth.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

After this isolated record the word was taken up again by Descartes in 1644, in the phrase véracité divine: the attribute by which God can neither deceive nor be deceived, a sense still current in theology.^[3][2][4] From 1735 it named a person's constant attachment to the truth.^[2][3] Since 1752 it has also named the quality of what conforms to the truth, as in the truth of a testimony.^[2][3][7]

Timeline

• 1458 – Isolated first record in Arnoul Gréban's Passion.^[2]
• 1644 – Descartes uses it of God's truthfulness.^[2][4]
• 1735 – First recorded for a person's attachment to the truth.^[2][7]
• 1752 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the sense “conformity to the truth”.^[2][7]
• 1762 – The Académie admits the word to its dictionary.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (religion) Véracité divine: the attribute of God that guarantees the truth of human knowledge.^[8][6]
2. (literary) The quality of a person who tells the truth, truthfulness: Personne ne met en doute la véracité de cet historien.^[8][6]
3. The quality of what is true or reported truthfully, veracity, authenticity: la véracité d'un récit.^[8][1]

Related words

• vérace
• vrai
• véridique
• Latin vērāx

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert