soothfastnessn.
Now archaic.
1. The fact, condition, or quality of being soothfast in various senses; truth; truthfulness or veracity. †in soothfastness, in sooth.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > truthfulness, veracity > [noun]
soothfastnessc825
trutha1450
fidelity1534
verity1565
veracity1623
truthfulness1647
veritableness1664
veridicalness1727
tell-truth1744
truthiness1832
veraciousness1860
veridicalitya1901
veridicity1937
c825 Vesp. Psalter v. 10 Nis in muðe heara soðfestnis.
c888 Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. xxxv. §1 Þeah bið simle corn þære soðfæstnesse sæd on þære sawle wunigende.
971 Blickl. Hom. 17 Drihten sylfa cwæþ, ‘Ic eom weg soðfæstnesse’.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 12920 & tiss iss soþfasstnessess hord Þatt all mann kinn birrþ sekenn.
a1300 Cursor Mundi 2339 Ai luued he sothfastnes and right.
c1386 G. Chaucer Clerk's Tale 740 But now know I in verray sothfastnesse, That in gret lordschip..Ther is gret servitude.
c1412 T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum 1199 Salamon yafe counseille, men shulden prey Two thynges unto God, in sothefastnesse.
1483 W. Caxton in tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende 393/1 Sende thou in to us..the ghoost of sothfastnesse.
?1567 M. Parker Whole Psalter xi. 23 For as the Lorde: is iust in worde, so loveth he sothfastnes.
1590 T. Lodge Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie K 3 b These..are of power no more, Where beautie leanes to wit and soothfastnesse.
1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse 141 True and full of soothfastnesse.
1881 D. G. Rossetti Ballads & Sonnets 121 For here sit I..In full surrender and soothfastness.
2. With the. Also const. of (a person, statement, etc.).
ΚΠ
c888 Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. xxxv. §6 Ne fo we no..on ða bispel for ðara leasena spella lufan, ac forðæmðe we woldon mid gebecnan þa soðfæstnesse.
971 Blickl. Hom. 55 Se mon se þa soþfæstnesse mid his muþe sprecþ.
c1055 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) 8 335 Æfter þære soðfæstnysse þe þa iudeisce witan heoldon.
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 115 Ðes kingges..sodfestnesse istaþaleð þes folkes stere.
c1386 G. Chaucer Melibeus ⁋209 To telle yow the sothfastnesse of thinges.
c1440 in C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (1845) I. 249 Þe bischap..askis þat he be distreignyt to schawe his charter for þe suthfastnes to be knawin.
1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) i. 7 The fyrst plesance is the carpyng, And the tother the suthfastnes, That schawys the thing rycht as it wes.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 558 The suithfastnes thairof rycht sone was schawin.
1571 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. (ii. 6) The soothfastnesse of the Prophesye was shewed there by the ceremony of solemne consecration.
1830 R. Chambers Life James I II. x. 278 The question seemed to hinge on the soothfastness of a chamber maid.
3. Personified.
ΚΠ
c897 K. Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care 409 Gehieren eac ða..hwæt sio Soðfæsðnes ðurh hie selfe cwæð.
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. xvi. 186 Þe secounde of þat sire is sothfastnesse, filius.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 9545 Þe first o þam was cald merci, þe toþer was hatten sothfastnes.
c1400 N. Love tr. Bonaventura Mirror Life Christ (1908) 17 This douȝter sothfastnesse seith that sche perissheth.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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