single word requests - Antonym for lying?


Is there an antonym for lying?


The lyric "You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'" in "These boots are made for walkin'" made me wonder: does a single word exist which means to speak the truth?



Answer



There is truthing, to truth (as in the lyrics) but it seems like it is a nonce word or neologism. Though there is a colloquial usage.


Wiktionary mentiones as obsolete:



(obsolete, transitive) To assert as true; to declare.


Had they [the ancients] dreamt this, they would have truthed it heaven. — Ford.



Etymonline says that:



English and most other IE languages do not have a primary verb for for "speak the truth," as a contrast to lie (v.).



You can see example usages in literature and technical books also if you check Google Books. (Note: Some examples may have different senses and gerund form of the word seems more common)


There is a technical usage as "ground truthing" as well.


Furthermore Wikipedia says under "Conversion" article:



Verbification may have a bad reputation with some English users because it is such a potent source of neologisms.


Although some neologistic products of verbification may meet considerable opposition from prescriptivist authorities, they are very common in colloquial speech, particularly specialized jargon, where words are needed to describe common actions or experiences.




Other than that, aver might be a close contender (it has an official and legal connotation):



to verify or prove to be true in pleading a cause



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