Believe It Or Not

I believe things cannot make themselves impossible ... Stephen Hawking

Etymology of Believe

The word believe comes from the Old English word believan which itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic root galaubjan or laubjan, meaning to hold dear or to love. This root is related to the idea of accepting something as true or putting trust in it.

What makes the word believe interesting is the fact that the word lie appears in it. This seems curious at first, but this is actually a result of how language evolves over time. The words believe and lie are not etymologically linked in the way their spelling might suggest.

The word lie comes from the Old English word licgan which means to recline or to rest (related to lying down, physically speaking).

Over time, the word lie evolved into a verb meaning to say something false, but the connection is metaphorical. Lying as in deception is linked to lying down or being flat in a figurative sense, where the truth is hidden or concealed.

Why Does The Word Lie Appear In The Word Believe?

While the word lie is visually embedded in the word believe, there's no historical or linguistic connection between their meanings. The inclusion of the word "lie" in the word "believe" is purely coincidental.

Believe derives from the Proto-Germanic roots related to love, trust, and acceptance, while lie has an entirely different origin connected to physical positioning and deceit.

There is, however, a subtle irony to the overlap.

If you take the phrase to believe a lie, it suggests a deeper psychological or social phenomenon, (believing something false). In this sense, the wordplay isn't lost, as it acknowledges that sometimes we believe (in the sense of trusting or accepting) a lie (something false).

So, the presence of the word lie in the word believe is just a coincidence of spelling, not of meaning.

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