forsooth

forsooth

English

Etymology

From Middle English forsothe, forsoþe, for sothe, from Old English for sōþ (“truly, for certain, forsooth”), equivalent to for (“for, by”) +‎ sooth (“truth”).

Pronunciation

• (General American), IPA^(key): /fɔɹˈsuθ/, enPR: fôr-sōōth′

  • Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -uːθ

Adverb

forsooth (not comparable)

1. (archaic or poetic) Used as an intensifier, often ironic: indeed, really, truthfully.

   Synonyms: in point of fact, in truth, to tell the truth; see also Thesaurus:actually

   • a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, OCLC 1287143827:

     A fit man, forsooth, to governe a realme!

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, OCLC 724111485, [Act I, scene i], page 1:

     [F]or certes, ſayes he, / I haue already choſen my officer, and what was he? / Forſooth, a great Arithmeticion, [...]

   • 1844 January–December​, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “My Pedigree and Family.—Undergo the Influence of the Tender Passion.”, in “The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. [The Luck of Barry Lyndon.]”, in Miscellanies: Prose and Verse, volume III, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1856, OCLC 769792815:

     ‘Saint forsooth!’ said ill-natured Mrs. Brady.

   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 596:

     The four boys pumped up their hate to hissing steam. Harmless, quotha. Innocent, forsooth.

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter VIII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:

     Her eyes widened. She squeaked a bit. "Don't tell me she caught you bending again?" "Bending is right. I was half-way under the dressing-table. You and your singing," I said, and I'm not sure I didn't add the word "Forsooth!" Her eyes widened a bit further, and she squeaked another squeak.

Derived terms

• yea-forsooth

Translations

indeed, truthfully, really

Bulgarian: наистина (bg) (naistina) Czech: věru (cs), vskutku (cs), namouduši Dutch: voorwaar (nl) (archaic) waarlijk (nl) (archaic) German: fürwahr (de) Ido: vere (io), certe (io), ya (io) Italian: in verità, davvero (it), seriamente (it) Polish: zaiste (pl) Russian: поистине (ru) (poistine) Spanish: veramente (es) m, en verdad m, de vero m Swedish: minsann (sv)

Further reading

• “forsọ̄th, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• James A. H. Murray [et al.], editors (1884–1928), “Forsooth”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IV (F–G), London: Clarendon Press, OCLC 15566697, page 470, column 3.