early 14c., "splendor, honor; elegance," later "honorable position; propriety of behavior, good manners; virginity, chastity" (late 14c.), from Old French oneste, honesté "respectability, decency, honorable action" (12c., Modern French uses the variant honnêteté, as if from Latin *honestitatem), from Latin honestatem (nominative honestas) "honor received from others; reputation, character;" figuratively "uprightness, probity, integrity, virtue," from honestus (see honest). Meaning "moral purity, uprightness, virtue, justness" is from c. 1400; in English, the word originally had more to do with honor than honest.
"tried virtue or integrity, strict honesty," early 15c., probite, from Old French probité, from Latin probitatem (nominative probitas) "uprightness, honesty," from probus "worthy, good" (see prove).
early 15c., sincerite, "honesty, genuineness," from Old French sinceritie (early 16c., Modern French sincérité) and directly from Latin sinceritatem (nominative sinceritas) "purity, soundness, wholeness," from sincerus "whole, clean, uninjured," figuratively "sound, genuine, pure, true, candid, truthful" (see sincere).
late 14c., "disgrace, shame, want of honor," from Old French deshonesté (13c., Modern French deshonnéteté) "dishonor, impropriety," from des- (see dis-) + Latin honestatem (nominative honestas) "honorableness," from honestus "honorable; deserving honor, respectable," from honos "honor, dignity, office, reputation," which is of unknown origin. Meaning "want of honesty, lack of integrity," the main modern sense, is recorded from 1590s.
late 14c., "disgraceful, shameful, without honesty or integrity; unjust, unfair, disposed to deceive or cheat; unmodest, unchaste," from Old French deshoneste (13c., Modern French déshonnête) "dishonorable, horrible, indecent," perhaps from a Medieval Latin or Gallo-Roman compound of Latin dis- "not" (see dis-) + honestus "honorable; deserving honor, respectable," from honos "honor, dignity, office, reputation," which is of unknown origin. The Latin formation was dehonestus. Related: Dishonestly.
c. 1400, from Old French loialte, leaute "loyalty, fidelity; legitimacy; honesty; good quality" (Modern French loyauté), from loial (see loyal). The Medieval Latin word was legalitas. The earlier Middle English form was leaute (mid-13c.), from the older French form. Loyalty oath first attested 1852.
Allegiance ... is a matter of principle, and applies especially to conduct; the oath of allegiance covers conduct only. Loyalty is a matter of both principle and sentiment, conduct and feeling; it implies enthusiasm and devotion .... [Century Dictionary, 1897]
butter substitute, 1873, from French margarine (see margarin). Invented 1869 by French scientist Hippolyte Mège-Mouries and made in part from edible fats and oils.
The "enterprising merchant" of Paris, who sells Margarine as a substitute for Butter, and does not sell his customers by selling it as Butter, and at Butter's value, has very likely found honesty to be the best policy. That policy might perhaps be adopted with advantage by an enterprising British Cheesemonger. ["Punch," Feb. 21, 1874]
also mouldy, "overgrown or covered with mold, decaying," 1570s, earlier mowly (late 14c.), from mold (n.2) + -y (2). Related: Moldiness.
Your most beautiful bit, that hath all eyes upon her,
That her honesty sells for a hogo of honour ;
Whose lightness and brightness do shine in such splendor,
That none but the stars are thought fit to attend her :
Though now she be pleasant and sweet to the sense,
Will be damnably mouldy a hundred years hence.
[Thomas Jordan, 17c.]
late 14c., prevaricacioun, "divergence from a right course, transgression, violation of a law or commandment" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French prevaricacion "breaking of God's laws, disobedience (to the Faith)" (12c., Modern French prévarication) and directly from Latin praevaricationem (nominative praevaricatio) "duplicity, collusion, a stepping out of line (of duty or behavior)," noun of action from past-participle stem of praevaricari "to make a sham accusation, deviate," literally "walk crookedly," in Church Latin, "to transgress."
This Latin word is from prae "before" (see pre-) + varicare "to straddle," from varicus "straddling," from varus "bowlegged, knock-kneed" (see varus). The main modern meaning "evasion, quibbling, act of deviating from truth, honesty, or plain dealing" is attested from 1650s.
