Averer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who asserts the truth of a statement with confidence
2. Someone who declares or affirms something, often in a formal manner
3. An individual who maintains that a particular assertion is true or valid through evidence or argument

Etymology: Its root is the Latin "verus," meaning "true," which also gave us "verity." The link to "very" surprises most people. In Middle English, "very" meant "true" or "genuine," so "the very man" once meant "the true man." The older sense survives in phrases like "the very truth." The verb "aver" entered English from Old French "averer," meaning "to verify" or "affirm," which descends from Late Latin "adverare," built from "ad" and "verus" and roughly meaning "to make true." To aver is to state something as true with confidence, and an averer is the person who does so. The "-er" ending is the common English agent suffix, as in "speaker" or "writer."

Synonyms: assertor, declarer, affirmant, testifier, witness