To foretell; to predict.
I like words that use "sooth" as its pronunciation is harder-edged than the word "soothe." Forsooth. Soothsay. Heresooth. "Sooth" itself is a one-syllable word but it seems to have two stresses at SOO and TH. To my ears this brings a certain desperation to the word.
I do not have a copy of the screenplay for Oliver Stone’s film "Nixon" but I seem to remember hearing Mary Steenburgen use the word "forsooth" in a scene with her (playing Hannah Nixon) and the young Richard Nixon. It’s funny how that one word as it was used in that movie stands out in my mind even now.
The book of Micah decries soothsayers, associating them with witchcraft, and delivering a stern warning that "thou shalt have no more soothsayers."
10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots:
11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:
12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.
14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.
15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
Whoosh!
