Except in Sc. legal use, the word appears to have been obsolete from the beginning of the 17th cent. until its revival by Scott.
A. adj. 1. Of persons: Speaking or adhering to the truth; veracious, truthful; true, faithful, loyal.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter lxxxv. 15. Swiðe mildheort & soðfest.
a. 900. Cynewulf, Crist, 302. Eac we þæt ʓefruʓnon, þæt ʓefyrn bi þe soðfæst sæʓde sum woðbora.
971. Blickl. Hom., 187. Þes man is soþfæst & soþsecgende.
c. 1100. O. E. Chron. (MS. D), an. 1065. Her Eadward cing … sende soðfeste saule to Kriste. Ibid. (1124), (Laud MS.), an. 1124. Fela soðfeste men sæidon þæt þær wæron maneʓe … ʓespilde.
c. 1205. Lay., 6535. He wes swiðe soðfest [v.r. sohfast] and swiðe wel iðæwed.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10189. Was neuer … nan tholmoder in chastite,… Ne nan soth-faster þan was he.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 135. Whar-for ilk man … Suld … knaw … How rightwes God es, and how sothefast.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xv. 69. Ȝe schuld … be symple, meke and sothfast.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 465/2. Sothefast mann or womann, verax.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxv. 43. Quhill I hard tell be mony suthfast wy, Fle wald ane abbot vp in to the sky.
1577. Test. 12 Patriarchs (1604), 102. Love ye one another with soothfast heart.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 1109. Christ … is called true or soothfast, because he only teacheth vs true, certeine,… & infallible things.
1612. J. Davies (Heref.), Muse’s Sacrifice, Wks. (Grosart), II. 36/2. I … weepe for what I want; that is, thy Grace, and Loue, Then, as thou art still soothfast, grant them me.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxv. Edie was ken’d to me … for a true, loyal, and soothfast man.
1857. Emerson, Poems, 79. Here am I, here will I abide Forever to myself sooth-fast.
absol. c. 825. Lorica Prayer, in O. E. Texts, 174. Ðec alle soðfeste fore-ðingiað.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 17459 (Trin.). And soþfaste whenne fals is fled Holdeþ forþ his owne sted.
1876. Morris, Sigurd, I. 29. Thou shalt know indeed … why the liar gains in a day what the soothfast strives for late.
† b. Const. in or of (word, etc.). Obs.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 103. Þat he be sothfast of wordes. Ibid. (1422), Priv. Priv,. 211. He sholde bene Sothefaste in worde and dedd.
1559. Mirr. Mag. (1563), B j. Abandon all affray, be soothfast in your sawes.
1577. St. Aug. Manual (Longman), 70. I know … that he [God] is Soothfast of promise.
2. In accordance or conformity with the truth; true, veracious; † just, equitable.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John v. 30. Dom min soðfæst is.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Thorpe), lxviii. 28. Hi on þin soðfæst weorc [L. in justitiam tuam] syþþan ne gangan.
c. 1205. Lay., 60. Nu bidded Laȝamon alcne æðele mon … þat he þeos soðfeste word segge to sumne.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 3. Than suld storys that suthfast wer … Hawe doubill plesance in heryng.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton, 1483), IV. xxxiii. 82. Shewynge by quyck reson that theyr seynge is sad and sothfast.
1481. in Eng. Misc. (Surtees), 39. In defawte of soothfast knowlage.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, VI. i. 174. Scho wes constrenit to schaw all suthfast thingis.
1559. Mirr. Mag. (1562), B b j. It was a southfast sentence long ago That hastye men shal never lacke much woe.
1567. Turberv., Epit., etc. 57 b. Thus many yeares were spent with good and soothfast life.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxii. Soothfast tidings had assured him that this nobleman was … to honour his castle at one in the afternoon.
1829. A. Cunningham, Magic Bridle, Anniv., 136. I’ll tell a tale. List, ye who glory In truth, and love a soothfast story.
b. Of an oath or evidence. Chiefly Sc.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6848. Bi fals godds suer yee nan, Athes noiþer sothfast ne man.
1481. Certificate, in Eng. Misc. (Surtees), 39. It is meritable to bere wittenes and suthfast record in any cause.
1502. Mackintosh Muniments (1903), 8. Meritable it is to beir leill and suithfast witnessing to the merite.
1561. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 198. To beir leill and suithfast witnessing in sa fer as thai knaw or shalbe sperit at thame.
1666. Proclamation, in Wodrow, Hist. Suff. Ch. Scot. (1830), II. 6. To bear leel and soothfast witnessing, in so far as they know, or shall be spiered at them.
1752. J. Louthian, Form of Process (1752), 42 [as in prec.].
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xv. Why do not you step forward, and bear leal and soothfast evidence in her behalf?
† c. Reliable, certain, sure. Obs.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxxii. 388. Þen schaltou haue soþfast knowyng, To knowe þi lord in whom is al.
a. 1400. Hylton, Scala Perf., II. xlii. (W. de W., 1494). This is a syker felynge & a sothfast.
1593. Lodge, Compl. Elstred, I 2 b. So wiser heads that knew the scourge of warre, Sought sooth-fast meanes to mittigate the iarre.
† 3. Truly or actually that which the name implies; true, real, veritable, very. Said esp. of God or of the persons of the Trinity. Obs.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 26. Almihti God, Feder, & Sune, & soðfest Holi Gost.
c. 1250. in O. E. Misc., 27. Be þet hi offrede gold, þet is cuuenable yeftte to kinge, seawede þet he was sothfast kink.
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 8656. For als he es, þai salle him se þan, Sothfast God, and sothfast man.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 25. She that was sothfaste croppe, and moore, Of al his lust or joyes here tofore.
c. 1430. Hymns Virgin (1867), 47. In þe sooþfast sunne closid it was.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 22. Mony was in that tyme callit papis, and was nocht suthfast.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 1045. I swere be suthfast God, that settis all on sevin!
† b. Of qualities, etc. Obs.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 57. Mid al þis haue þu charite, and soðfeste leaue and trowðe lef.
c. 1200. Ormin, 1572. Forr soþfasst lufe bærneþþ aȝȝ. Ibid., 2659. Þatt wass wiss soþfasst metleȝȝc.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIII. 217. Sobrete, and symple speche and sothfaste byleue.
B. adv. Soothfastly.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22926. All þe flexs þat was o þe man Sothfast sal be raised þan. Ibid. (c. 1375), 26961 (Fairf.). Þe xv. point hit is þe laste Þat þi shrift be made soþ-faste.
1867. Emerson, May-Day, 26. I care not if the pomps you show Be what they soothfast appear.
