wordaday

The core meaning of faith is embodied in the first three definitions:

1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.

2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. See synonyms at belief, trust.

3. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one’s supporters.

4. often Faith Christianity The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God’s will.

5. The body of dogma of a religion: the Muslim faith. 6. A set of principles or beliefs.

You will have noticed that the first three definitions revolve around the associated concepts of truth, and trust, or in the extended sense, loyalty. Faith entered English via Middle English, Anglo-Norman fed, from Latin fids. The ancestor of modern faith also cluster around “trust,”; a core meaning that goes all the way back to even the Proto Indo-European root, bheidh- , which means “To trust, confide, persuade.” Other words derived from * bheidh- include bide, fiancé, and infidel, in English.

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