aver vs recant

aver

verb
  • To justify or prove (an allegation or plea that one has made). 

  • To assert the truth of (something); to affirm (something) with confidence; to declare (something) in a positive manner. 

recant

verb
  • To withdraw or repudiate a statement or opinion formerly expressed, especially formally and publicly. 

  • To give a new cant (slant, angle) to something, in particular railway track on a curve. 

How often have the words aver and recant occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )