faith: [12] Faith comes ultimately from the prehistoric Indo-European *bhidh-, *bhoidh- (source also of English federal). It produced Latin fidēs ‘faith’, which lies behind a wide range of English words, including confide, defy, diffident (which originally meant ‘distrustful’), fealty [14], fidelity [15], fiduciary [17], and perfidy [16].
Its descendants in the Romance languages include Italian fede, Portuguese fé (as in auto-da-fé, literally ‘act of faith’, acquired by English in the 18th century), and Old French feid. This was pronounced much as modern English faith is pronounced, and Middle English took it over as feth or feith. (A later Old French form fei, foreshadowing modern French foi, produced the now defunct English fay [13]). => confide, defy, diffident, federal, fidelity, fiduciary, perfidy
faith (n.)
mid-13c., faith, feith, fei, fai "faithfulness to a trust or promise; loyalty to a person; honesty, truthfulness," from Anglo-French and Old French feid, foi "faith, belief, trust, confidence; pledge" (11c.), from Latin fides "trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, belief," from root of fidere "to trust," from PIE root *bheidh- "to trust" (source also of Greek pistis "faith, confidence, honesty;" see bid). For sense evolution, see belief. Accomodated to other English abstract nouns in -th (truth, health, etc.).
From early 14c. as "assent of the mind to the truth of a statement for which there is incomplete evidence," especially "belief in religious matters" (matched with hope and charity). Since mid-14c. in reference to the Christian church or religion; from late 14c. in reference to any religious persuasion.
And faith is neither the submission of the reason, nor is it the acceptance, simply and absolutely upon testimony, of what reason cannot reach. Faith is: the being able to cleave to a power of goodness appealing to our higher and real self, not to our lower and apparent self. [Matthew Arnold, "Literature & Dogma," 1873]
From late 14c. as "confidence in a person or thing with reference to truthfulness or reliability," also "fidelity of one spouse to another." Also in Middle English "a sworn oath," hence its frequent use in Middle English oaths and asseverations (par ma fay, mid-13c.; bi my fay, c. 1300).
实用例句
1. The public never had faith in his ability to handle the job.
公众从来不相信他有能力胜任这一职位。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Non-violence and patience are the central tenets of their faith.
非暴力和忍耐是他们的信仰的核心原则。
来自柯林斯例句
3. His government is placing its faith in international diplomacy.
他的政府对国际外交关系充满信心。
来自柯林斯例句
4. He abjured the Protestant faith and became King in 1594.
他放弃了新教信仰，于1594年登基为王。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Don't blindly trust in the good faith of any government official.
