sooth

Etymology

Came into English via Middle English sooth, from Old English sōþ (“truth; true, actual, real”), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþ, from Proto-Germanic *sanþaz (“truth; true”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁sónts, *h₁s-ont- (“being, existence, real, true”), itself from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”). It is akin to Old Saxon sōþ (“true”), Old High German sand (“true”), Old Norse sannr (“true”), Gothic ????? (sunja, “truth”), and Old English synn (“sin, guilt"; literally, "being the one guilty”). See also sin, and soothe, which comes from the same Old English word.