Another post as set-up before I jump into the politics of it all.
I love etymology. I don't know much about it really, but as a momentary hobby I enjoy stumbling across the origin of words. So the first thing to catch my eye in a dictionary entry like this one...
truth
1. Conformity to fact or actuality.
n. pl. truths (trōōthz, trōōths)
2. A statement proven to be or accepted as true.
3. Sincerity; integrity.
4. Fidelity to an original or standard.
5. a. Reality; actuality.
b. often Truth That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence.
[Middle English trewthe, loyalty, from Old English trēowth; see deru- in Indo-European roots.]
... is that "truth" comes from the Middle and Old English for "loyalty." We English-speaking people have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to vocabulary and can use many different words to express the idea "truth," "verity" being another option in some contexts - obviously that's not my real last name! :-D It's telling to me that out of all the synonyms for this concept, the one that springs from "loyalty" is the one that is arguably the most spoken by Anglophones. Go to Thesaurus.com and search "truth." I'm willing to bet you $5 (not that I'm a betting woman) that "truth" is the word you use most out of the entire list. (I will bet $100 that you say "truth" more often than "verisimilitude"!)
The second thing to attract my notice in dictionary entries is my favorite definition, since often the word has more than one. Definitions to a word can obviously be very different from each other. For instance, in #2 above, "a statement proven to be true" is a truth; "a statement accepted as true" is a truth too, but it can also be an axiom. #3, "Sincerity; integrity" does not define "axiom" in addition to "truth." This is what goes through my mind when I look at the puzzle of language.
My favorite definition above, or at least the most relevant to this blog, is #4: "Fidelity to an original or standard." Truth.
I'd like to think about WHAT is the original? WHAT is the standard? And WHY is it so?
This is a really good post. There aren't enough people who consider the origins of what they believe to be true, and that is a huge problem!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love that I just learned a new word! (verisimilitude is awesome!)
Thanks, Dominique! I agree with you (obviously, haha) that people don't put enough thought into WHAT they're really representing as "truth" sometimes. Sometimes we seem more like lemmings than human beings, you know?
ReplyDeleteYour adherence to the verisimilitude of the standard is commendable. Just remember that truths are also dependent on ideologies and it is the ideological differences that will get you and your thoughts into trouble with the opposition. Stand firm as we all do to the truths of our convictions.
ReplyDeletegreat post. i'm also obsessed with word meanings.
ReplyDelete