In the popular film My Cousin Vinny, the prosecutor mentioned that the word “verdict” means “truth” and suggested it originated from Old English. While this is partially correct, the noun was actually first recorded in 1297 as verdit during the Middle English period. It is derived from the Old French word veirdit, which directly translates to “true saying” (an aspect that was often overlooked). The “true” component, veir, comes from Latin veritas and Proto-Indo-European weh, both meaning “truth”; the “saying” part, dit, is the past participle of the verb “say,” dire, tracing back to Latin dicere and the Proto-Indo-European root deik, signifying “show.” Utilizing Google Trends, I investigated the search frequency for the term “verdict” over the past 16 years, noting significant peaks in July 2011 and July 2013. These spikes are likely attributed to the conclusions of the Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman trials during those periods.
