vérité French · revision 16462

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 10th century, Vie de saint Léger (veritiet)|origins=la vērus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ve.ʁi.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vérité''' ''f'' (plural vérités)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|veritiet]], [[m|fro|veritet]] (about 1050), ''veriteit''; the modern form dates from 1553; the Académie wrote ''verité'' in 1694 and 1718 and ''vérité'' from 1740.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|vēritās|t=truth; reality; uprightness]], from [[m|la|vērus|t=true]], the source of [[vrai]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|14, 288a) This early learned form lived beside forms that came down orally, [[m|fro|vertet]] (980) and [[m|fro|verté]] (12th century), and replaced them.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Compare [[pro|veritat]], [[es|verdad]] and [[it|verità]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Vie de saint Léger'' (late 10th century) ''veritiet'' is religious truth as opposed to error; the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' has ''veritet'' about 1050.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From about 1165 it meant the agreement of an account with the facts, and generally the agreement of an idea with its object and of what one says with what one thinks, as opposed to a lie.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) A proverb of about 1210 says ''Vertez c'est la massüe Qui menteor ossist et tüe'' (“truth is the club that kills the liar”).^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) ''En bonne vérité'' (about 1390) became ''en vérité'' (about 1460), and ''à la vérité'' (1485) came to introduce a restriction (1670).^(DHLF 1992) Truth is personified in 1485–1490: ''Dame Loyauté dort Et Verité est morte''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ''Dire à quelqu'un ses vérités'' “to tell someone home truths” dates from the mid-16th century, later intensified as ''ses quatre vérités''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''L'heure de vérité'' (about 1924) is probably a calque of [[es|la hora de la verdad]], the decisive moment of a bullfight, and ''caméra-vérité'' (about 1964) of Russian ''kino-pravda''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 10th century – ''Veritiet'' in the ''Vie de saint Léger''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1165 – Agreement with the facts, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1460 – ''En vérité''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1553 – The form ''vérité''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1567 – ''Dire à quelqu'un ses vérités'' in Amyot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1656 – ''Les vérités de l'Évangile'' in Pascal.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1924 – ''Heure de vérité''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1964 – ''Caméra-vérité''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|truth]], the agreement of thought with reality: ''la recherche de la vérité''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A truth, a true proposition: ''les vérités éternelles''.^(Larousse)

+ # What really happened; the facts: ''dire la vérité''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Dire à quelqu'un ses (quatre) vérités'': to tell someone some home truths.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ # ''En vérité'': truly, ''à la vérité'': admittedly, to tell the truth.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''L'heure de vérité'': the moment of truth.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[véritable]]

+ * [[contrevérité]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vrai]]

+ * [[véridique]]

+ * [[vérifier]]

+ * [[la|vēritās]]

+ * [[en|verity]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}