troth

Etymology

From Middle English troth, trothe, trouthe, trowthe, a variant of treuth, treuthe, treouthe (“allegiance, fidelity, faithfulness, loyalty; oath, pledge, promise; betrothal or marriage vow; betrothal; honour, integrity; holiness, righteousness; confidence, trust; creed, faith; fact, reality, truth”), from Old English trēowþ, trīewþ (“truth, veracity; faith, fidelity; covenant, pledge”),^[1] from Proto-Germanic *triwwiþō (“contract; promise”), equivalent to true +‎ -th. See further at truth.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɹəʊθ/, /tɹɒθ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɹoʊθ/, /tɹɑθ/

Noun

troth (countable and uncountable, plural troths)

1. (countable, archaic) An oath, pledge, or promise.
   • c. 1596–1599, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: Printed by V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, OCLC 55178895, [Act III, scene ii]:

     By my troth I care not, a man can die but once, we owe God a death, […]

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, “The Shooting-match at Nottingham Town”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood of Great Renown, in Nottinghamshire, New York, N.Y.: Printed by Charles Scribner's Sons […], OCLC 22773434, part first, page 32:

     And by my faith and troth I have a good part of a mind to have thee beaten for thine insolence!

   • 1909, Daniel Bussier Shumway, transl., “Adventure XVI: How Siegfried was Slain”, in The Nibelungenlied: Translated from the Middle High German with an Introductory Sketch and Notes (The Riverside Literature Series), Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company […], OCLC 931794, page 131:

     Hagen of Troneg now foully broke his troth to Siegfried.

2. (countable, specifically) A pledge or promise to marry someone.
3. (countable, specifically) The state of being thus pledged; betrothal, engagement.
   • 1826, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter XIV, in The Last of the Mohicans; a Narrative of 1757. [...] In Two Volumes, volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, Chestnut-Street, OCLC 1538219, page 248:

     I did, therefore, what an honest man should; restored the maiden her troth, and departed the country, in the service of my king.

   • 1893, Henry James, “Collaboration”, in The Wheel of Time; Collaboration; Owen Wingrave, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers publishers, OCLC 932066270, page 110:

     Vendemer’s sole fortune is his genius, and he and Paule, who confessed to an answering flame, plighted their troth like a pair of young rustics or (what comes for French people to the same thing) young Anglo-Saxons.

4. (uncountable) Truth.

References

Further reading

• troth (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• troth in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• troth in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• troth at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• thort