Truth.
It built our loyalties. It fueled revolutions. It shaped law, journalism, art—and everything we trust (or don’t).
In this special Foundations episode of Lexiconned, we explore the complex roots of one of humanity’s most powerful—and most contested—words.
From ancient oaths to Enlightenment science to today’s digital battlegrounds, truth has been worshiped, weaponized, and worn thin.
Where did it come from? How has it evolved?
And what does it still demand from us today?
Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary – Entries for truth, troth, trēowþ
- Online Etymology Dictionary – Proto-Germanic and Proto-Indo-European roots (treuwaz, deru-)
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – Oaths and early law
- Magna Carta (1215) – Foundational texts and historical translations
- Novum Organum by Francis Bacon (1620) – Foundations of modern scientific truth
- Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton (1687) – Scientific objectivity
- 1984 by George Orwell (1949) – Political manipulation of truth
- King Lear by William Shakespeare – Truth in tragedy
- Emily Dickinson, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant” (published 1890)
- Comparative linguistics resources for aletheia (Greek), Wahrheit (German), shinjitsu (Japanese), and vérité (French)
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