An Attempt To Date
Belief
G.D.O'Bradovich III
July 28, 2015
What is belief? What is beyond belief?
The following is courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary with secondary sources are in red.
α. eME bileafa, ME–15 bylefe, lME beleeffe (north-west midl., in a late copy), lME belyefe(north.), lME (chiefly north.) 15–16 belefe, 15 beleffe, 15 bylief, 15 byliefe, 15–16 beleef, 15–16beleefe, 15–16 beleif, 15–16 belieff, 15–17 beleife, 15–17 beliefe, 15– belief, 16 beeleefe, 16belieffe; Sc. pre-17 beleefe, pre-17 belef, pre-17 beleif, pre-17 beleife, pre-17 beleiff, pre-17beleyff, pre-17 beliefe, pre-17 17– belief.
β. eME belaue, eME beliaue, eME bilefue, eME byleaue, eME byleoue, ME beleaue, MEbelewe, ME bileaue, ME bileeue, ME bileeve, ME bileue, ME bileve, ME bilieue, ME bilieve, ME byleeue, ME byleyue, ME bylyue, ME 16 beleeue, ME 16 believe, ME–15 beleeve, ME–15beleue, ME–15 byleue, ME–15 byleve, ME–16 beleve, lME belyve, 15 belyue, 15 b'leue, 18beleave (Irish English (Wexford)); Sc. pre-17 beleiue, pre-17 beleive, pre-17 beleue, pre-17beleve, pre-17 belewe.
Etymology: Probably an alteration (with prefix substitution: see be- prefix and compare slightly earlier believe v.) of yleve n. (compare earlier (aphetic) leve n.); yleve n. is in turn cognate with or formed similarly to Old Frisian (rare) gelōve (the usual Old Frisian noun is the unprefixed lāwaleve n.), Old Dutch gilōvo (Middle Dutch gelōve , Dutch geloof ), Old Saxon gilōbo (Middle Low German gelōve , glōve ), Old High German giloubo (Middle High German geloube , gloube , German Glaube ), also (with different suffix and gender) Gothic galaubeins (feminine), all showing a similar range of senses (in sense ‘creed’ now obsolete or regional in the cognate Germanic languages) < the respective prefixed Germanic verbs (showing the various cognates of y- prefix) cited at believe v. The specific Christian senses of these prefixed Germanic nouns are after the corresponding post-classical Latin senses of classical Latin fidēs, which are in turn after ancient Greek πίστις (for both, see faith n.). The Scandinavian languages lack a cognate noun, using instead the respective cognates of trow n.1
The expected stem vowel in Middle English is long open ē ( < Old English ēa in gelēafa yleve n.). However, occasionally Middle English rhymes suggest long close ē , and it is likely that already in Middle English the pronunciation as well as the spelling of the vowel (with ie ) was influenced by the cognate verb believe v. (which regularly shows long close ē < Old English ē by (non-West Saxon) i-mutation of ēa caused by the verb-forming suffix); compare E. J. Dobson Eng. Pronunc. 1500–1700 (ed. 2, 1968) II. §120. The stem vowels of the verb and the noun would have merged in pronunciation in any case in standard modern English.
With the modern distinction between the noun with unvoiced final consonant and the verb with voiced final consonant, compare e.g. behoof n. and behove v., grief n. and grieve v., proof n. and prove v., relief n.2 and relievev., etc.
yleve n. is already attested in Old English in several senses corresponding to senses of belief n. (including senses 1a,2, 3, 4a).
The word shows considerable semantic overlap with the later French loan faith n. Especially in theological use, a distinction is frequently made between the two words, belief referring either to the intellectual assent to certain propositions or dogmas, or to the acceptance of the existence of God or another god, faith involving personal trust and commitment. This lexical distinction is absent from the cognate Germanic languages; in German, for example, Glaube covers the senses of both belief and faith.
I. Mental conviction.
1. Theol.
a. The trust that the believer places in God; the Christian virtue of faith.explicit belief: see explicit adj. 1. implicit belief: see implicit adj. 3a.
c1175 (▸OE) Ælfric's Homily on Nativity of Christ (Bodl. 343) in A. O. Belfour 12th Cent. Homilies in MS Bodl. 343 (1909) 84
Ðesne laf we æteð þonne we mid bileafan gað to halige husle ure hælendes lichame.
c1200 Serm. in Eng. & Germanic Stud. (1961) 7 65
Þester vas þis vorld and emti of bileaue.
c1225 (▸?c1200) St. Margaret (Bodl.) 24 (MED),
Iesu..Þu haldest & heuest up treowe bileaue.
▸a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 33 (MED),
Þe fourþe lyuynge of Cristen men bygan vnder Crist, whan byleue and grace of sacramente halwed hir lyf.
?a1425 in A. Hudson Eng. Wycliffite Serm. (1990) I. 254
Neyþur wiþ fygus of byleue, ne wiþ grapus of deuocion.
c1475 (▸?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) Introd. 6
It is sooth that bileue is grounde of alle vertues.
c1540 (▸?a1400) Destr. Troy x. 4287
Ffor lacke of beleue þai light into errour, and fellen vnto fals goddes.
1578 Queen Elizabeth I in E. Farr Sel. Poetry Reign Elizabeth (1845) I. 1
Who shall therefor from Syon geue That helthe whych hangeth on our b'leue?
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iii. i. 127
The Church..hath from the apostles..receiued beleefe.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxvii. 235
The end of Miracles, was to beget beleef, not universally in all men, elect, and reprobate; but in the elect only.
1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke sig. F4v,
No man ought to cheat another though to the true beliefe.
1714 A. W. Boehm Doctr. of Justif. 13
He hung betwixt the Law of Life and the Law of Death; betwixt Belief and Unbelief.
1791 S. Newton Syllabus Christian Values xxiv. 82
The Sinner is brought into a justified State by Belief.
1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes vi. 330
That war of the Puritans..the war of Belief against Unbelief!
1896 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 2 103
Not only does unbelief become the capital sin and belief the capital virtue, but even thumbscrew and stake, ban and outlawry will be used to crush out heresy.
1955 Life 26 Dec. 104
Luther's doctrine of justification by faith (salvation by belief alone without trust in good works as such) has caused Lutherans to stress theology more than many groups.
2009 J. M. Nelson Psychol., Relig., & Spirituality iii. ix. 284
Vergote..sees the essential issue in the decision about belief or unbelief to be conflict between autonomy and dependence.
†b. out of belief: outside the Christian faith, unbelieving. Obs.
a1425 Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 334 (MED),
Wantonesse in siche wille, þat is misturned fro Goddis wille, bringiþ in oþir synnes and makiþ man out of bileve.
c1453 (▸c1437) Brut (Harl. 53) 568 (MED),
Whiche cuntre was out of beleue of Christen faith.
1508 Mirk's Festyuall (de Worde) f. lx,
The Iewe yt was out of beleue.
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 637/2
Thou art out of beliefe, If in this matter and other, thou beleuest not as the holy church beleueth.
2. The mental action, condition, or habit of trusting to or having confidence in a person or thing; trust, dependence, reliance, confidence, faith. Usually with in (†to, †of).
a1225 (▸OE) Ælfric's Homily In Die Sancto Pentecosten (Lamb. 487) in R. MorrisOld Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 101
Cristene men ne sculen heore bileafe [OE Royal heora hiht] bisettan on þere weor[l]dliche eahte.
c1225 (▸?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) l. 161 (MED),
Ne mahe ȝe nowðer mi luue ne mi bileaue lutlin towart te liuiende godd.
c1350 (▸a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 16 (MED),
Þi bileaue of ihesu crist His nou al weuerinde.
c1405 (▸c1380) Chaucer Second Nun's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 63
And thogh that I, vnworthy sone of Eue Be synful, yet accepte my bileue.
?a1425 in A. Hudson Eng. Wycliffite Serm. (1990) I. 317
Affye þe doȝter, þi byleue haþ mad þe saf.
c1450 (▸?a1400) Sege Melayne l. 438 (MED),
What myghte es in a rotyn tree Þat ȝoure byleue es In?
a1500 (▸?c1450) Merlin (1899) iii. 50
It is grete merveile that ye haue so grete bileve to this man.
1508 Bp. J. Fisher Wks. 271
A stedfast byleue of God.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Tobit ii,
We..loke for the life, which God shal geue vnto them, that neuer turne their beleue from him.
1626 Bacon Sylua Syluarum §327
We knew a Dutch-man, that had wrought himself into the beleif of a great Person by undertaking that he could make Gold.
1662 W. Smith Catech. for Bishops 19
There must be first a perswasion wrought in the Conscience, and a belief in the Truth and Lawfulness of what is to be observed.
1737 S. Bourn Christian-family Prayer Bk. 10
May a lively Belief of thy Goodness and Care bear us Company thro' the Day.
1763 Pastoral Cordial 11
Their Faith and firm Belief In Second Sight, and Mother Shipton.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. iv. iv. 209 Belief in high-plumed hats of a feudal cut; in heraldic scutcheons; in the divine right of Kings.
1858 Harper's Mag. Jan. 207/1 Though she appears to have had little belief in God, she had great faith in the Devil.
1891 T. Hardy Tess (1895) i. xi. 76 Will you, I ask once more, show your belief in me by letting me encircle you with my arm?
1902 Bookman Sept. 81/1 No amount of gossip would ever shake her belief in him.
1906 A. S. Crapsey in E. M. Shepard For Church Living & Universal 129 My belief in Jesus..is a living faith in Him as my guide in life, as the master of my spiritual thought, as my elder brother.
1953 M. Irwin Elizabeth & Prince of Spain xvii. 184 Philip's belief in astrology and sooth-saying was stronger than her own.
2007 Nature 11 Oct. 659 This belief in himself rested on a realistic assessment of his own strengths and limitations.
3. Theol. A formal statement of doctrines believed, a creed. In later use only in the Belief: = Apostles' Creed n. at apostlen. Additions. Cf. creed n.1 1a. Now arch.
a1225 MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 73
Buten heo cunnen heore bileue, þet is pater noster and credo.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 11 (MED),
Þe tuelf articles of þe cristene byleue.
c1400 (▸c1378) Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. v. l. 7,
I..sat softly adown and seide my bileue.
c1550 How Plowman lerned Pater Noster 54 in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. (1864) I. 211,
I mervayll ryght gretly, That thy byleve was never taught the.
1575 in D. H. Fleming Reg. Christian Congregation St. Andrews (1889) I. 408
The Lordis prayer, the beleve, and the commandementis.
1637 T. Heywood Dial. i. 101
Some sung, and some did say Haile Virgin: others, their Beleefe.
1677 J. Armstrong Secret & Family Prayers 79
They that are baptized ought to learn the Belief, and on the first day of the Week to say it over to the Bishop or Presbyter.
1712 H. Prideaux Direct. Church-wardens (ed. 4) 11
Kneeling at the Prayers, Standing at the Belief.
1795 W. Armstrong Catechetical Lect. ii. 20
A short summary called the Creed or Belief.
1817 W. Pitt Topogr. Hist. Staffs. i. 342 The upper part of the partition is neatly ornamented on the side facing the nave, with three painted tables of the Lord's Prayer and the Belief.
1840 F. Marryat Olla Podrida III. 324, I said..the Belief.
1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd viii. 68, I kneeled down and said the Lord's Prayer, and then the Belief right through.
1907 J. Watson Scot of 18th Cent. iii. 93 Dean Whitingham..was godfather to one of Knox's sons, and Bishop Coverdale to the other. It was the custom of the sponsors to say the Belief.
4 a. Something believed; a proposition or set of propositions held to be true. In early usage esp.: a doctrine forming part of a religious system; a set of such doctrines, a religion.
c1225 (▸?c1200) St. Margaret (Bodl.) 10 (MED),
He..hehede hise heþene godes..& lei to his luðere bileue.
c1380 Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 829 (MED),
Til he wer cristned..& y-broȝt to þe riȝt beleue.
▸a1393 Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 748
The believes that tho were.
a1425 (▸a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 4335
And turne þam til a fals belyefe.
?a1425 (▸c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 80
Þei [sc. Syrians] holden the beleeve amonges vs.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Esther viii. D,
Many of the people in the londe became of the Iewes beleue.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words
Recredenza, a belief changed from that it was, recreantnesse.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. vii. 25
Our advanced beliefs are not to be built upon dictates, but..[we] are to erect upon the surer base of reason.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing ix. 46
For a man to go about to counter-argue this common belief.
1763 Disc. Freedom of Thinking in Relig. vi. 151
What rule shall we have to determine our beliefs, whether to authority, or reason, the reason and the authority both of them not being the highest in their kind, both of them being repudiable, and at most but probable?
1836 H. Smith Tin Trumpet I. 75
Throughout the world belief depends chiefly upon localities, and the accidents of birth.
1917 Amer. Jrnl. Theol. 21 352 Shall the beliefs of the Chinese Christians be prescribed autocratically by Western ecclesiastical bodies?
1978 M. E. Spiro Burmese Supernaturalism p. xv, Their behaviour is determined by the beliefs of their culture.
2009 U. McGovern & P. Jenner Lost Lore 116 Such beliefs were formalized into the spiritualist movement after the Fox sisters in America claimed to be able to converse with the dead through ‘spirit-rapping’.
b. Philos. A basic or ultimate principle or presupposition of knowledge; something innately believed, a primary intuition. Usu. in pl.
1831 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 200 To argue from common sense is nothing more than to render available the presumption in favour of the original facts of consciousness... The argument..therefore postulates, that our original beliefs be not proved self-contradictory.
1838 Sir W. Hamilton in Reid's Wks. 743/1 (note) , The primary truths of fact, and the primary truths of intelligence (the contingent and necessary truths of Reid) form two very distinct classes of the original beliefs or intuitions of consciousness.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith iv. 157 Primary judgments (as that every change must have a cause) are often called beliefs, though ‘intuitions’ would be a better term.
1915 A. J. Balfour Theism & Humanism i. i. 29 We hear of innate beliefs, a priorijudgments, axioms, laws of thought, truths of reason, truths the opposite of which is ‘inconceivable’—and so forth.
2009 M. J. Murray in W. L. Craig & C. Meister God is Great, God is Good ii. vi. 94 From birth, infants possess an amazing array of both ideas and dispositions to form ideas that far outstrip the evidence available to them. These innate beliefs and dispositions form what psychologists now call ‘folk beliefs’,..that one and one equals exactly two, for example..that objects move continuously through space [etc.].
5. With preposition. a. With of. †(a) Acceptance of the truth of a statement or the words of a speaker (obs.); (b) acceptance of a supposed fact. Now rare.
c1425 Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 1294 (MED),
He putte hir fully in byleve Of al þe tresoun.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. vii. 125
The Ilande of Hispaniola was fyrste named by the fyrste inhabitours, Quizqueia, and then Haiti. And this not by chaunce, or at the pleasure of suche as diuised these names, but of credulitie and belefe of summe great effecte.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) iii. sig. Ii5,
My only defence shalbe beleefe of nothing.
1663 W. Charleton Chorea Gigantum 28
Having thus, thread after thread, unravell'd Mr Jones his long Web of Reasons, which he thought so closely and artificially woven, as to be strong enough to bind his Readers to a belief of his Opinion, that Stone-heng was a Roman Structure.
1680 R. Morden Geogr. Rectified (1685) 254
There is no belief of men that were always accounted Lyers.
1701 in New Jersey Archives (1881) II. 378
The long Experience..had of the Justice and Veracity of Coll. Hamilton, ought to have influenced a Beliefe of what he related to Us.
1727 J. Asgill Metamorph. Man 27
His disciples were not so clear in their belief of him.
1763 R. Burn Eccl. Law II. 285
By his own oath affirming his innocency, and the oaths of twelve compurgators as to their belief of it.
1796 Bp. R. Watson Apol. for Bible 279
The belief of that miracle did not generate conviction that Jesus was the Christ.
1821 S. T. Coleridge in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 10 243,
I..know of no reason, why to these toxications, (especially when taken through the skin, and to the cataleptic state produced by them,) we should not attribute the poor wretches' own belief of their guilt.
1999 Times 28 May 61/2 It has been..the Germans strutting around with the silverware, the English and so many other nations lying with sore heads and scant belief of what had happened to them.
b. With in. Acceptance or conviction of the existence or occurrence of something.
1548 N. Bodrugan Epitome Title to Souereigntie Scotl. sig. c.vi,
What nede I speake of these defences when the same Boecius scantly trusteth his awne belife in this tale.
1599 tr. Historia de Donne Famose sig. D3,
These for the most part were Italians, neighbours to the great Pope, and therefore more worthy of our beleefe in this, for that they might sooner and easier get notice of these matters.
a1640 P. Massinger Guardian iii. vi. 240 in 3 New Playes (1655)
And I have eyes too... If I have no belief in their assurance, I must turn sceptick.
1685 N. Tate Cuckolds-haven iii. iv. 39
Master Touchstone has always had great belief in Witchcraft, and is so terrified about it, that he dares never be in the dark.
1740 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 29 June (1966) II. 198
A belief in all the miracles in the Legend.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1754 I. 219
We talked of belief in ghosts.
1812 R. Southey Omniana II. 250 The old belief in familiars.
1852 E. B. Browning Let. 13–14 May in Lett. Brownings to George Barrett (1958) 181 Lady Elgin is a great spiritualist with a leaning to Irvingism & a belief in every sort of incredible thing.
1876 J. B. Mozley Univ. Serm. iv. 95 They had no genuine belief in any world which was different from theirs.
1926 A. R. Radcliffe-Brown in Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 56 19 There is found in widely separated parts of Australia a belief in a huge serpent which lives in certain pools or water-holes.
1975 P. Kronhausen & E. Kronhausen Sex People v. 51 There [sc. in ancient Hinduism] the belief in the transmigration of souls from animals to humans and vice versa was coupled with a totally accepting attitude toward sexuality.
2002 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 2 Dec. 10/4, I am delivering happiness to children in all parts of the world including Australia (except for 50 other centres who see fit to rob the children of their belief in Santa).
6. With that. Acceptance that a statement, supposed fact, etc., is true; a religious, philosophical, or personal conviction; an opinion, a persuasion.
1528 Tyndale Obed. Christen Man f. xxxvi,
Yf I be brought in belefe that my most enimie is my frende, Then love I my most enimie.
1530 J. Rastell New Bk. Purgatory ii. iv. sig. c2,
Of this beleue that the soule of man shall neuer dye.
a1533 J. Frith Against Rastel (?1537) sig. Cvv,
That I would bring the people in belefe that repentance of a man helpeth not for the remission of his synne.
1554 E. Bonner Articles sig. D.v,
Item whether there be any, that hath maynteyned and holden the opinion or beliefe, that a man hath no free wyll, and that all thynges do come and chaunce by a precyse and absolute necessitie.
1649 Mercurius Brittanicus No. 3. 20
A belief that the Parliaments forces did burn down and destroy many Cities, Townes, and Houses.
1659 W. Montagu Shepheard's Paradise iv. 85,
I must not give my thoughts the liberty to play with Love, as 'tis an infant; in beliefe that they can rule it.
1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. vi. i. sig. Mm6v, A belief that the toothsome, would make the nutritive part go smoothly down.
1714 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 9 Oct. (1965) I. 229
Tis my beleife you will not be at all the richer.
1760 J. Wesley Let. 18 Mar. (1931) IV. 88
It is well if they left you so much as an assent to the Bible or a belief that Christ is God over all!
1791 J. O'Keeffe Wild Oats iv. i. 52
Now for a spanking lie, to continue her in the belief that Jack is the man she thinks him.
1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes i. 7
Belief that there is a Greatest Man; that he is discoverable..the ‘discoverability’ is the only error here.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith i. 8
The belief that there is no God is as definite a creed as the belief in one God or in many gods.
1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur iv. xv. 268 In full belief that the evils which afflicted it were political, and to be cured only by the sword, he was going forth to fit himself for a part in the day of resort to the heroic remedy.
1927 Times 14 Feb. 5/1 There was a sensation of confidence and belief that, at any rate, no mere rabbitry would bring about disaster.
1945 P. White Let. 2 May (1994) iii. 61 It is my belief that Merino sheep might be bred profitably in Greece.
1973 Leicester Mercury 24 Dec. 8/1 The public in the States is being..misled into purchasing the Purity brand of Stilton cheese in mistaken belief that it is the genuine product produced in England.
2007 D. Allen & E. O. Springsted Philos. for Understanding Theol. (ed. 2) viii. 137 Locke shared with Descartes the belief that what we are directly aware of is ideas, and that some of them represent objects external to us.
7. Without construction: assent to a proposition, statement, or fact, esp. on the grounds of testimony or authority, or in the absence of proof or conclusive evidence. Also (chieflyPhilos.): the way in which pure reason acknowledges objects existing beyond the reach of empirical evidence or logical proof.to beggar belief: see beggar v. Additions. to convince any one's belief: see convincev. 3e. to stagger belief: see stagger v. 7c.
[1543 Chron. J. Hardyng f. xxxviiiv,
Oure well proued euel willers to growe in too too greate authorytee wt the king in youth, namely whiche is light of belefe and soone perswaded.]
1566 J. Rastell Treat.: Beware of M. Iewel ii. iii. sig. Qv,
Yf thou haue Chrysostome peruse this place, and weigh wel his wordes: If thow haue hym not, yet be not ouerhastie of beleife.
1613 T. Jackson Eternall Truth Script. ii. xxx. §19 (margin)
In matters of knowledge or belief, reason and cause are synonymall.
1659 F. Osborne Misc. Ess. Paradoxes f. 67,
That this is not obtruded upon Belief under a single Testimony, it may be found the Opinion of the French Nation, where they have not a more Apposite expression for a Fool, then, that, His Head is ill made.
1703 L. Smith Evid. Things not Seen (ed. 2) 14
These guilty Fears and Accusations of a bad Conscience, or comfortable Excusings and Acquitments of a good one,..owe their rise to custom of Belief.
1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind ii. §7,
I beg leave to make use of the word suggestion, because I know not one more proper, to express a power of the mind..to which we owe many of our simple notions which are neither impressions nor ideas, as well as many original principles of belief.
1798 tr. Kant Ess. & Treat. I. 389 It is reason merely, not a pretended secret sense of truth, no transcendant intuition under the name of belief, upon which tradition or revelation may, without the consent of reason, be grafted.
1814 Wordsworth Excursion iv. 198 One in whom persuasion and belief Had ripened into faith.
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. i. §2 The simplest act of belief supposes, and has something to do with, two objects.
1872 H. Calderwood Handbk. Moral Philos. 248 Belief is the assent of the mind to a truth, while the reality so acknowledged is not matter of observation.
1921 W. Lay Man's Unconscious Spirit iii. viii. 284 (heading) Belief is not knowledge.
1976 E. Maclaren Nature of Belief vii. 73 No amount of impeccable orthodoxy is belief. Belief is orthopraxis, commitment to certain action.
2002 J. Hardwig in K. B. Wray Knowl. & Inq. iii. vii. 410 The whole point of appealing to the testimony of others is that they know things we do not. If this were not the case, basing belief on testimony would be..nonrational or irrational.
†II. Expectation.
8. Confident anticipation, expectation; an instance of this.Obs.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) x. ix. 44
That gud beleif quhilk thou hass eik Of Ascanyvs vprysyng to estait.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. II. 235
In the feild sa mony als war slane, Without beleif to gif battell agane.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Solon in Panoplie Epist. 194,
I am in beliefe..that you will doe nothing vnto me.
1594 (▸a1555) D. Lindsay Hist. Squyer Meldrum l. 1220 in Wks. (1931) I. 178
This Squyeris confusioun..traistit no man suld him greiue, Nor of tressoun had no beleiue.
1614 T. Jackson Third Bk. Comm. Apostles Creede viii. 177
Take heede of dispensing with the word of the Lord once made known vnto themselues, vpon beliefe of more manifest reuelations or instructions.
belief system n. a set of principles, ideas, or convictions which together form a tenable thesis, working ethos, or presiding ideology; esp. a religion or philosophy viewed in terms of its constituent ideas and beliefs.
1870 H. P. Malet Interior of Earth iii. 37 Under the general geological belief system, there is no reason why a volcano once begun should ever cease.
1910 W. L. Sullivan Lett. to his Holiness ii. i. 196 A body of doctrine, which, just as the Lord delivered it, and the apostles preached it, exists today in the belief-system of Roman Catholicism.
1957 J. Huxley Relig. without Revelation iii. 63 Some non-theistic belief-systems have tended to dominate large sections of humanity. The two most obvious are Nazism in Germany and Marxist Communism in Russia.
1981 O. Westin (title) On political socialization and education: investigations into an argumentation for a good political belief system.
2005 G. Blunt Blackfly Season xxiv. 151 Palo Mayombe..is an African belief system whose gods wear the guise of Christian saints.
The citations in chronological order.
1175c (▸OE) (1909) Ðesne laf we æteð þonne we mid bileafan gað to halige husle ure hælendes lichame.
1200c . (1961) Þester vas þis vorld and emti of bileaue.
1225a (1868) Buten heo cunnen heore bileue, þet is pater noster and credo.
1225a (▸OE) (1868) Cristene men ne sculen heore bileafe [OE Royal heora hiht] bisettan on þere weor[l]dliche eahte.
1225c (▸?c1200) (MED), Ne mahe ȝe nowðer mi luue ne mi bileaue lutlin towart te liuiende godd.
1225c (▸?c1200) (MED), He..hehede hise heþene godes..& lei to his luðere bileue.
1225c (▸?c1200) (MED), Iesu..Þu haldest & heuest up treowe bileaue.
1340 (1866) (MED), Þe tuelf articles of þe cristene byleue.
1350c (▸a1333) (1902) (MED), Þi bileaue of ihesu crist His nou al weuerinde.
1380c Sir Ferumbras (1879) l. 829 (MED), Til he wer cristned..& y-broȝt to þe riȝt beleue.
1387▸a J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 33 (MED), Þe fourþe lyuynge of Cristen men bygan vnder Crist, whan byleue and grace of sacramente halwed hir lyf.
1393▸a Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. l. 748 The believes that tho were.
1400c (▸c1378) Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. v. l. 7, I..sat softly adown and seide my bileue.
1405c (▸c1380) Chaucer Second Nun's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 63 And thogh that I, vnworthy sone of Eue Be synful, yet accepte my bileue.
1425?a in A. Hudson Eng. Wycliffite Serm. (1990) I. 254 Neyþur wiþ fygus of byleue, ne wiþ grapus of deuocion.
1425?a in A. Hudson Eng. Wycliffite Serm. (1990) I. 317 Affye þe doȝter, þi byleue haþ mad þe saf.
1425?a (▸c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 80 Þei [sc. Syrians] holden the beleeve amonges vs.
1425a Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 334 (MED), Wantonesse in siche wille, þat is misturned fro Goddis wille, bringiþ in oþir synnes and makiþ man out of bileve.
1425a (▸a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) l. 4335 And turne þam til a fals belyefe.
1425c Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) v. l. 1294 (MED), He putte hir fully in byleve Of al þe tresoun.
1450c (▸?a1400) Sege Melayne l. 438 (MED), What myghte es in a rotyn tree Þat ȝoure byleue es In?
1453c (▸c1437) Brut (Harl. 53) 568 (MED), Whiche cuntre was out of beleue of Christen faith.
1475c (▸?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) Introd. 6 It is sooth that bileue is grounde of alle vertues.
1500a (▸?c1450) Merlin (1899) iii. 50 It is grete merveile that ye haue so grete bileve to this man.
One primary citation before the year 1500.
1508 A stedfast byleue of God.
1508 , The Iewe yt was out of beleue.
1522a (1959)That gud beleif quhilk thou hass eik Of Ascanyvs vprysyng to estait.
1528 Yf I be brought in belefe that my most enimie is my frende, Then love I my most enimie.
1530 Of this beleue that the soule of man shall neuer dye.
1533a (?1537) That I would bring the people in belefe that repentance of a man helpeth not for the remission of his synne.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Esther viii. D, Many of the people in the londe became of the Iewes beleue.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Tobit ii, We..loke for the life, which God shal geue vnto them, that neuer turne their beleue from him.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. II. 235 In the feild sa mony als war slane, Without beleif to gif battell agane.
1540c (▸?a1400) Destr. Troy x. 4287 Ffor lacke of beleue þai light into errour, and fellen vnto fals goddes.
1543 Chron. J. Hardyng f. xxxviiiv, Oure well proued euel willers to growe in too too greate authorytee wt the king in youth, namely whiche is light of belefe and soone perswaded.]
1548 N. Bodrugan Epitome Title to Souereigntie Scotl. sig. c.vi, What nede I speake of these defences when the same Boecius scantly trusteth his awne belife in this tale.
1550c How Plowman lerned Pater Noster 54 in W. C. Hazlitt Remains Early Pop. Poetry Eng. (1864) I. 211, I mervayll ryght gretly, That thy byleve was never taught the.
1554 E. Bonner Articles sig. D.v, Item whether there be any, that hath maynteyned and holden the opinion or beliefe, that a man hath no free wyll, and that all thynges do come and chaunce by a precyse and absolute necessitie.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. vii. 125 The Ilande of Hispaniola was fyrste named by the fyrste inhabitours, Quizqueia, and then Haiti. And this not by chaunce, or at the pleasure of suche as diuised these names, but of credulitie and belefe of summe great effecte.
1566 J. Rastell Treat.: Beware of M. Iewel ii. iii. sig. Qv, Yf thou haue Chrysostome peruse this place, and weigh wel his wordes: If thow haue hym not, yet be not ouerhastie of beleife.
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) I. 637/2 Thou art out of beliefe, If in this matter and other, thou beleuest not as the holy church beleueth.
1575 in D. H. Fleming Reg. Christian Congregation St. Andrews (1889) I. 408 The Lordis prayer, the beleve, and the commandementis.
1576 A. Fleming tr. Solon in Panoplie Epist. 194, I am in beliefe..that you will doe nothing vnto me.
1578 Queen Elizabeth I in E. Farr Sel. Poetry Reign Elizabeth (1845) I. 1 Who shall therefor from Syon geue That helthe whych hangeth on our b'leue?
1586a Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1593) iii. sig. Ii5, My only defence shalbe beleefe of nothing.
1593 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie iii. i. 127 The Church..hath from the apostles..receiued beleefe.
1594 (▸a1555) D. Lindsay Hist. Squyer Meldrum l. 1220 in Wks. (1931) I. 178 This Squyeris confusioun..traistit no man suld him greiue, Nor of tressoun had no beleiue.
1599 tr. Historia de Donne Famose sig. D3, These for the most part were Italians, neighbours to the great Pope, and therefore more worthy of our beleefe in this, for that they might sooner and easier get notice of these matters.
16 primary references before the year 1600.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Recredenza, a belief changed from that it was, recreantnesse.
1613 T. Jackson Eternall Truth Script. ii. xxx. §19 (margin) In matters of knowledge or belief, reason and cause are synonymall.
1614 T. Jackson Third Bk. Comm. Apostles Creede viii. 177 Take heede of dispensing with the word of the Lord once made known vnto themselues, vpon beliefe of more manifest reuelations or instructions.
1626 Bacon Sylua Syluarum §327 We knew a Dutch-man, that had wrought himself into the beleif of a great Person by undertaking that he could make Gold.
1637 T. Heywood Dial. i. 101 Some sung, and some did say Haile Virgin: others, their Beleefe.
1640a P. Massinger Guardian iii. vi. 240 in 3 New Playes (1655) And I have eyes too... If I have no belief in their assurance, I must turn sceptick.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. vii. 25 Our advanced beliefs are not to be built upon dictates, but..[we] are to erect upon the surer base of reason.
1649 Mercurius Brittanicus No. 3. 20 A belief that the Parliaments forces did burn down and destroy many Cities, Townes, and Houses.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan iii. xxxvii. 235 The end of Miracles, was to beget beleef, not universally in all men, elect, and reprobate; but in the elect only.
1659 F. Osborne Misc. Ess. Paradoxes f. 67, That this is not obtruded upon Belief under a single Testimony, it may be found the Opinion of the French Nation, where they have not a more Apposite expression for a Fool, then, that, His Head is ill made.
1659 W. Montagu Shepheard's Paradise iv. 85, I must not give my thoughts the liberty to play with Love, as 'tis an infant; in beliefe that they can rule it.
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing ix. 46 For a man to go about to counter-argue this common belief.
1662 W. Smith Catech. for Bishops 19 There must be first a perswasion wrought in the Conscience, and a belief in the Truth and Lawfulness of what is to be observed.
1663 W. Charleton Chorea Gigantum 28 Having thus, thread after thread, unravell'd Mr Jones his long Web of Reasons, which he thought so closely and artificially woven, as to be strong enough to bind his Readers to a belief of his Opinion, that Stone-heng was a Roman Structure.
1665 R. Boyle Occas. Refl. vi. i. sig. Mm6v, A belief that the toothsome, would make the nutritive part go smoothly down.
1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke sig. F4v, No man ought to cheat another though to the true beliefe.
1677 J. Armstrong Secret & Family Prayers 79 They that are baptized ought to learn the Belief, and on the first day of the Week to say it over to the Bishop or Presbyter.
1680 R. Morden Geogr. Rectified (1685) 254 There is no belief of men that were always accounted Lyers.
1685 N. Tate Cuckolds-haven iii. iv. 39 Master Touchstone has always had great belief in Witchcraft, and is so terrified about it, that he dares never be in the dark.
1701 in New Jersey Archives (1881) II. 378 The long Experience..had of the Justice and Veracity of Coll. Hamilton, ought to have influenced a Beliefe of what he related to Us.
1703 L. Smith Evid. Things not Seen (ed. 2) 14 These guilty Fears and Accusations of a bad Conscience, or comfortable Excusings and Acquitments of a good one,..owe their rise to custom of Belief.
1712 H. Prideaux Direct. Church-wardens (ed. 4) 11 Kneeling at the Prayers, Standing at the Belief.
1714 A. W. Boehm Doctr. of Justif. 13 He hung betwixt the Law of Life and the Law of Death; betwixt Belief and Unbelief.
1714 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 9 Oct. (1965) I. 229 Tis my beleife you will not be at all the richer.
1727 J. Asgill Metamorph. Man 27 His disciples were not so clear in their belief of him.
1737 S. Bourn Christian-family Prayer Bk. 10 May a lively Belief of thy Goodness and Care bear us Company thro' the Day.
1740 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 29 June (1966) II. 198 A belief in all the miracles in the Legend.
1760 J. Wesley Let. 18 Mar. (1931) IV. 88 It is well if they left you so much as an assent to the Bible or a belief that Christ is God over all!
1763 Disc. Freedom of Thinking in Relig. vi. 151 What rule shall we have to determine our beliefs, whether to authority, or reason, the reason and the authority both of them not being the highest in their kind, both of them being repudiable, and at most but probable?
1763 Pastoral Cordial 11 Their Faith and firm Belief In Second Sight, and Mother Shipton.
1763 R. Burn Eccl. Law II. 285 By his own oath affirming his innocency, and the oaths of twelve compurgators as to their belief of it.
1764 T. Reid Inq. Human Mind ii. §7, I beg leave to make use of the word suggestion, because I know not one more proper, to express a power of the mind..to which we owe many of our simple notions which are neither impressions nor ideas, as well as many original principles of belief.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1754 I. 219 We talked of belief in ghosts.
1791 J. O'Keeffe Wild Oats iv. i. 52 Now for a spanking lie, to continue her in the belief that Jack is the man she thinks him.
1791 S. Newton Syllabus Christian Values xxiv. 82 The Sinner is brought into a justified State by Belief.
1795 W. Armstrong Catechetical Lect. ii. 20 A short summary called the Creed or Belief.
1796 Bp. R. Watson Apol. for Bible 279 The belief of that miracle did not generate conviction that Jesus was the Christ.
1798 tr. Kant Ess. & Treat. I. 389 It is reason merely, not a pretended secret sense of truth, no transcendant intuition under the name of belief, upon which tradition or revelation may, without the consent of reason, be grafted.
1812 R. Southey Omniana II. 250 The old belief in familiars.
1814 Wordsworth Excursion iv. 198 One in whom persuasion and belief Had ripened into faith.
1817 W. Pitt Topogr. Hist. Staffs. i. 342 The upper part of the partition is neatly ornamented on the side facing the nave, with three painted tables of the Lord's Prayer and the Belief.
1821 S. T. Coleridge in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 10 243, I..know of no reason, why to these toxications, (especially when taken through the skin, and to the cataleptic state produced by them,) we should not attribute the poor wretches' own belief of their guilt.
1831 Edinb. Rev. Oct. 200 To argue from common sense is nothing more than to render available the presumption in favour of the original facts of consciousness... The argument..therefore postulates, that our original beliefs be not proved self-contradictory.
1836 H. Smith Tin Trumpet I. 75 Throughout the world belief depends chiefly upon localities, and the accidents of birth.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. I. iv. iv. 209 Belief in high-plumed hats of a feudal cut; in heraldic scutcheons; in the divine right of Kings.
1838 Sir W. Hamilton in Reid's Wks. 743/1 (note) , The primary truths of fact, and the primary truths of intelligence (the contingent and necessary truths of Reid) form two very distinct classes of the original beliefs or intuitions of consciousness.
1840 F. Marryat Olla Podrida III. 324, I said..the Belief.
1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes i. 7 Belief that there is a Greatest Man; that he is discoverable..the ‘discoverability’ is the only error here.
1841 T. Carlyle On Heroes vi. 330 That war of the Puritans..the war of Belief against Unbelief!
1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. i. i. §2 The simplest act of belief supposes, and has something to do with, two objects.
1852 E. B. Browning Let. 13–14 May in Lett. Brownings to George Barrett (1958) 181 Lady Elgin is a great spiritualist with a leaning to Irvingism & a belief in every sort of incredible thing.
1858 Harper's Mag. Jan. 207/1 Though she appears to have had little belief in God, she had great faith in the Devil.
1870 H. P. Malet Interior of Earth iii. 37 Under the general geological belief system, there is no reason why a volcano once begun should ever cease.
1872 H. Calderwood Handbk. Moral Philos. 248 Belief is the assent of the mind to a truth, while the reality so acknowledged is not matter of observation.
1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd viii. 68, I kneeled down and said the Lord's Prayer, and then the Belief right through.
1876 J. B. Mozley Univ. Serm. iv. 95 They had no genuine belief in any world which was different from theirs.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith i. 8 The belief that there is no God is as definite a creed as the belief in one God or in many gods.
1877 E. R. Conder Basis of Faith iv. 157 Primary judgments (as that every change must have a cause) are often called beliefs, though ‘intuitions’ would be a better term.
1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur iv. xv. 268 In full belief that the evils which afflicted it were political, and to be cured only by the sword, he was going forth to fit himself for a part in the day of resort to the heroic remedy.
1891 T. Hardy Tess (1895) i. xi. 76 Will you, I ask once more, show your belief in me by letting me encircle you with my arm?
1896 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 2 103 Not only does unbelief become the capital sin and belief the capital virtue, but even thumbscrew and stake, ban and outlawry will be used to crush out heresy.
1902 Bookman Sept. 81/1 No amount of gossip would ever shake her belief in him.
1906 A. S. Crapsey in E. M. Shepard For Church Living & Universal 129 My belief in Jesus..is a living faith in Him as my guide in life, as the master of my spiritual thought, as my elder brother.
1907 J. Watson Scot of 18th Cent. iii. 93 Dean Whitingham..was godfather to one of Knox's sons, and Bishop Coverdale to the other. It was the custom of the sponsors to say the Belief.
1910 W. L. Sullivan Lett. to his Holiness ii. i. 196 A body of doctrine, which, just as the Lord delivered it, and the apostles preached it, exists today in the belief-system of Roman Catholicism.
1915 A. J. Balfour Theism & Humanism i. i. 29 We hear of innate beliefs, a priorijudgments, axioms, laws of thought, truths of reason, truths the opposite of which is ‘inconceivable’—and so forth.
1917 Amer. Jrnl. Theol. 21 352 Shall the beliefs of the Chinese Christians be prescribed autocratically by Western ecclesiastical bodies?
1921 W. Lay Man's Unconscious Spirit iii. viii. 284 (heading) Belief is not knowledge.
1926 A. R. Radcliffe-Brown in Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 56 19 There is found in widely separated parts of Australia a belief in a huge serpent which lives in certain pools or water-holes.
1927 Times 14 Feb. 5/1 There was a sensation of confidence and belief that, at any rate, no mere rabbitry would bring about disaster.
1945 P. White Let. 2 May (1994) iii. 61 It is my belief that Merino sheep might be bred profitably in Greece.
1953 M. Irwin Elizabeth & Prince of Spain xvii. 184 Philip's belief in astrology and sooth-saying was stronger than her own.
1955 Life 26 Dec. 104 Luther's doctrine of justification by faith (salvation by belief alone without trust in good works as such) has caused Lutherans to stress theology more than many groups.
1957 J. Huxley Relig. without Revelation iii. 63 Some non-theistic belief-systems have tended to dominate large sections of humanity. The two most obvious are Nazism in Germany and Marxist Communism in Russia.
1973 Leicester Mercury 24 Dec. 8/1 The public in the States is being..misled into purchasing the Purity brand of Stilton cheese in mistaken belief that it is the genuine product produced in England.
1975 P. Kronhausen & E. Kronhausen Sex People v. 51 There [sc. in ancient Hinduism] the belief in the transmigration of souls from animals to humans and vice versa was coupled with a totally accepting attitude toward sexuality.
1976 E. Maclaren Nature of Belief vii. 73 No amount of impeccable orthodoxy is belief. Belief is orthopraxis, commitment to certain action.
1978 M. E. Spiro Burmese Supernaturalism p. xv, Their behaviour is determined by the beliefs of their culture.
1981 O. Westin (title) On political socialization and education: investigations into an argumentation for a good political belief system.
1999 Times 28 May 61/2 It has been..the Germans strutting around with the silverware, the English and so many other nations lying with sore heads and scant belief of what had happened to them.
2002 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 2 Dec. 10/4, I am delivering happiness to children in all parts of the world including Australia (except for 50 other centres who see fit to rob the children of their belief in Santa).
2002 J. Hardwig in K. B. Wray Knowl. & Inq. iii. vii. 410 The whole point of appealing to the testimony of others is that they know things we do not. If this were not the case, basing belief on testimony would be..nonrational or irrational.
2005 G. Blunt Blackfly Season xxiv. 151 Palo Mayombe..is an African belief system whose gods wear the guise of Christian saints.
2007 D. Allen & E. O. Springsted Philos. for Understanding Theol. (ed. 2) viii. 137 Locke shared with Descartes the belief that what we are directly aware of is ideas, and that some of them represent objects external to us.
2007 Nature 11 Oct. 659 This belief in himself rested on a realistic assessment of his own strengths and limitations.
2009 J. M. Nelson Psychol., Relig., & Spirituality iii. ix. 284 Vergote..sees the essential issue in the decision about belief or unbelief to be conflict between autonomy and dependence.
2009 M. J. Murray in W. L. Craig & C. Meister God is Great, God is Good ii. vi. 94 From birth, infants possess an amazing array of both ideas and dispositions to form ideas that far outstrip the evidence available to them. These innate beliefs and dispositions form what psychologists now call ‘folk beliefs’,..that one and one equals exactly two, for example..that objects move continuously through space [etc.].
2009 U. McGovern & P. Jenner Lost Lore 116 Such beliefs were formalized into the spiritualist movement after the Fox sisters in America claimed to be able to converse with the dead through ‘spirit-rapping’.