Now arch. and rare. Forms: 1 soðe, soþe, 5 sothe; 3–4 soþ, 4 soth, 5 sooþ, Sc. suth, 6–7, 9 sooth. [OE. sóðe, sóþe, f. the adj.: see prec.] Truly; truthfully; in truth.
Beowulf, 524. Beot eal wið þe sunu Beanstanes soðe ʓelæste.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Thorpe), cxviii. 15. Swa ic þine soðfæstnysse soðe ʓetreowe.
c. 1200. Ormin, 18591. Uss wrat & seȝȝde sikerr soþ Johan þe Goddspell wrihhte, Þat [etc.]. Ibid., 19729. Forrþi seȝȝdenn þeȝȝ full soþ Þatt Crist [etc.].
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14529. Cayphas spak þus in his spa,… And said wel sother þan he wist.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. T., 174. Thou schalt say soth thin othes, and not lye.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 293. And so he told … Quhilk hapnyt suth in mony diuers cace.
b. Used interjectionally.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7739. ‘Es þat,’ he said, ‘mi sun daui?’ ‘Ya, soth,’ said dauid, ‘it es i.’
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XVII. xvi. 712. Sothe, sayd he, I am hole of body, thanked be our lord.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. iii. 13. And sooth, men say that he was not the sonne Of mortall Syre.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., II. i. 11. An. Let me yet know of you, whither you are bound. Seb. No sooth sir. Ibid. (1604), Oth., III. iii. 52. Oth. Went he hence now? Des. I [= Ay] sooth.
1834. Whittier, Mogg Megone, I. 400. And sooth, ’T were Christian mercy to finish him.
1872. K. H. Digby, Ouranogaia, I. xii. 264. And, sooth, the company that take this way No man or woman can for aye admire.
