Punic faith

• punic faith, Punic Faith

Calque of Latin fidēs Pūnica.

Punic faith (uncountable)

1. (archaic) Treachery, deceitfulness, bad faith.
   • 1824, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 16, in Redgauntlet:

     His line of education, as well as his father's tenets in matters of church and state, had taught him a holy horror for Papists, and a devout belief in whatever had been said of the Punic faith of Jesuits.

   • 1848, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 5, in Jack Tier:

     Mexico . . . weakened her cause by her own punic faith, instability, military oppression, and political revolutions, giving to the Texans in particular ample justification for their revolt.

   • 1865 July 14, “Bright on Parliamentary Reform”, in New York Times, retrieved 6 August 2014:

     Mr. Bright . . . speaks in the following terms, in his address to his constituents, of the Punic faith of the Palmerston-Russell Administration on the question of reform: " . . . The House which was returned at that election has been disloyal to its pledges, and has neglected its first duty."

   • 1944 October 9, “Education: International Insults”, in Time, retrieved 6 August 2014:

     The Carthaginians, in the Roman view, were treacherous fellows. "Punica fides" ("Punic faith") became Latin for double-dealing.

• Attic faith

• “Punic faith”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.