different between gallant vs courage

English

Alternative forms

• gallaunt (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English galant, galaunt, from Old French galant (“courteous; dashing; brave”), present participle of galer (“to rejoice; make merry”), from gale (“pomp; show; festivity; mirth”); either from Frankish *wala- (“good, well”), from Proto-Germanic *wal-, from Proto-Indo-European *welh?- (“to choose, wish”); or alternatively from Frankish *gail (“merry; mirthful; proud; luxuriant”), from Proto-Germanic *gailaz (“merry; excited; luxurious”), related to Dutch geil (“horny; lascivious; salacious; lecherous”), German geil (“randy; horny; lecherous; wicked”), Old English g?l (“wanton; wicked; bad”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??æl?nt/
• Rhymes: -æl?nt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. brave, valiant.
2. honorable.

   • Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

3. grand, noble.
4. (obsolete) Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.

   • This town [is built in a very gallant place.

Related terms

• gallantly
• gallantry

Translations

Etymology 2

From French

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???lænt/, /??æl?nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???l?nt/, /??æl?nt/
• Rhymes: -ænt

Adjective

gallant (comparative more gallant, superlative most gallant)

1. Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.

Translations

Noun

gallant (plural gallants)

1. (dated) A fashionable young man who is polite and attentive to women.
   • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 1 scene 2

     PROSPERO: […] this gallant which thou see'st / Was in the wrack; and but he's something stain'd / with grief,—that beauty's canker,—thou mightst call him / A goodly person […]

2. One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

     […] they were discovered in a very improper manner by the husband of the gypsy, who, from jealousy it seems, had kept a watchful eye over his wife, and had dogged her to the place, where he found her in the arms of her gallant.

   • 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, Act III, Scene II, verses 140–143

     The ignominy of that whisper’d tale / About a midnight gallant, seen to climb / A window to her chamber neighbour’d near, / I will from her turn off, […]

3. (nautical) topgallant

Translations

Verb

gallant (third-person singular simple present gallants, present participle gallanting, simple past and past participle gallanted)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To attend or wait on (a lady).

2. (obsolete, transitive) To handle with grace or in a modish manner.

References

• gallant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Welsh

Alternative forms

• gallan (colloquial)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??a?ant/

Verb

gallant

1. (literary) third-person plural present/future of gallu

Mutation

English

Etymology

From Middle English corage, from Old French corage (French courage), from Vulgar Latin *cor?ticum, from Latin cor (“heart”). Distantly related to cardiac (“of the heart”), which is from Greek, but from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Displaced Middle English elne, ellen, from Old English ellen (“courage, valor”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k???d?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k???d?/, /?k???d?/
  • (accents without the "Hurry-furry" merger)
  • (accents with the "Hurry-furry" merger)

Noun

courage (usually uncountable, plural courages)

1. The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate.

2. The ability to overcome one's fear, do or live things which one finds frightening.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Aristotle, Rhetoric, 1.9.8

     ...courage is the thing by which they are able to take useful actions while amidst hazards...
3. The ability to maintain one's will or intent despite either the experience of fear, frailty, or frustration; or the occurrence of adversity, difficulty, defeat or reversal.
   • 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

     Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them.

   • 1942, C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

     “Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”

   • 2008, Maya Angelou, address for the 2008 Cornell University commencement

     Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:courage

Derived terms

Related terms

• cardiac

Translations

Verb

courage (third-person singular simple present courages, present participle couraging, simple past and past participle couraged)

1. (obsolete) To encourage. [15^th-17^thc.]
   • 1530, William Tyndale, "An Answer unto Sir Thomas More's Dialogue":

     Paul writeth unto Timothy, to instruct him, to teach him, to exhort, to courage him, to stir him up,

See also

• fearlessness
• bield

French

Etymology

cœur +? -age or Middle French corage, from Old French corage, from Vulgar Latin *coraticum, from Latin cor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku.?a?/

Noun

courage m (plural courages)

1. courage

   Synonym: bravoure

Derived terms

• bon courage
• courageux
  • courageusement
• décourager
  • décourageant
  • découragement
• encourager
  • encourageant
  • encouragement
• prendre son courage à deux mains

Descendants

• ? Bulgarian: ????? (kuraž)
• ? Macedonian: ????? (kuraž)
• ? Romanian: curaj
• ? Russian: ????? (kuraž)

Interjection

courage !

1. chin up! keep going! take heart!

Usage notes

"bon courage !" has a slightly different meaning: "good luck!".

Further reading

• “courage” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).