different between virtu vs vertu

English

Alternative forms

• vertu

Noun

virtu (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of vertu.

Middle English

Noun

virtu

1. Alternative form of vertu

English

Alternative forms

• vertù, virtu

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian virtù, †vertù (“moral worth, virtue (13th century); determination, perseverance, military valour (14th century); study of the liberal or fine arts; appreciation of, taste for, or expertise in the fine arts; objets d'art collectively (16th century)”); or from French vertu (“virtue”), ultimately from Latin virt?t-, virtus (“virtue”). Doublet of virtue.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /v???tu?/

Noun

vertu (uncountable)

1. (art, now historical) The fine arts as a subject of study or expertise; understanding of arts and antiquities. [from 18th c.]
   • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt 2008, p. 233:

     He engaged a certain Abbé of distinguished taste in virtù to attend them as their Ciceroné, and explain the antiquities brought from Herculaneum and Pompeia […] .

2. (art, now historical) Objets d'art collectively. [from 18th c.]
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or The White Whale^[3], Boston: The St. Botolph Society, 1922, OCLC 237074, page 423:

     Now, when with royal Tranquo I visited this wondrous whale, and saw the skull an altar, and the artificial smoke ascending from where the real jet had issued, I marvelled that the king should regard a chapel as an object of vertù.
3. Especially with reference to the writings of Machiavelli (1469–1527): the requisite qualities for political or military success; vitality, determination; power. [from 19th c.]
   • 1976, Niccolò Machiavelli; James B. Atkinson, transl., The Prince [The Library of Liberal Arts; LLA-172], Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, ISBN 978-0-672-51542-2; reprinted as Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Publishing Company, 2008, ISBN 978-0-87220-920-6, pages 69–70:

     All these connotations, even the positive and moral ones, are within the range of significations Machiavelli wants us to hear in “virtù.” For him the word suggests a kind of flexibility that can initiate effective, efficient, and energetic action based on a courageous assertion of the will and an ability to execute the products of one's own calculations. Such calculations are a significant adjunct to his ideas about virtù: they outline what might be called an internal or mental virtù.
4. Moral worth; virtue, virtuousness. [from 20th c.]

Translations

French

Etymology

From Middle French vertu, from Old French vertu, from Latin virt?s, virt?tem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /v??.ty/

Noun

vertu f (plural vertus)

1. virtue

Derived terms

• en vertu de
• évertuer
• femme de petite vertu
• vertu cardinale
• vertueux

Related terms

• virtuel
• virtuose

Further reading

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

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [f????tu?]

Verb

vertu

1. singular imperative of vertun
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of vertun

Middle English

Alternative forms

• virtu, vertue, vertew, virtew, verteu, virtue, wertue, vertuwe, vertwe, vertiwe, vertuu

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French and Anglo-Norman vertu, from Latin virt?tem, accusative of virt?s.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?v?rtiu?/, /?virtiu?/

Noun

vertu (plural vertues)

1. An ability, specialty, or feature:
   1. Medical or pharmaceutical ability (either generally or specifically)
   2. Such an ability that one possesses, has acquired or has learnt.
   3. A feature or quality which enables or allows a power or effect.
   4. A mechanism or ability that causes a bodily function or process to work.
2. Power, competence, ability; ability to effect behaviour or action:
   1. Divine power or capability; power effected from the heavens:
      1. (theology) The grace of God; divine aid or beneficence.
      2. The bestowing or granting of divine aid or beneficence.
      3. Divine ability transferred or placed in an object or thing.
      4. A specific instance or example of godly might or ability.
      5. (rare) A title or appellation granted or bestowed upon a divinity.
   2. The means or method that something is done with or through.
   3. The force of law (often as a means); legislative power or prerogative.
   4. The power to shield from harm, especially when of an occult nature.
   5. Astrological or cosmic influence; power believed to come from the stars.
   6. The property of being regarded as valuable or desirable; desirability.
   7. (rare) Overlordship or domination; political control or jurisdiction.
   8. (rare) The state of being meaningful; importance or notability.
   9. (rare) The property of causing power, effects or results.
3. Virtue (moral goodness; adherence to ethics):
   1. A particular attribute believed to be morally beneficial or good.
   2. The display of virtue or the example set by such a display.
   3. A moral directive or instruction or the body of them; morals.
   4. One's ability to act virtuously; moral fibre or capability.
4. One of several ranks of angels (being above "powers" and below "dominions").
5. A military troop or band; a group of combatants.
6. Willpower or mental fibre; one's ability to fulfill one's will.
7. Glory, honourableness, or knightliness; that expected by chivalry.
8. Sapience, wisdom, higher functioning or that which causes it.
9. Raw physical strength, exertion, or endurance.
10. The constitution, health, or animacy of a living thing.

Related terms

• vertual
• vertually
• vertulees
• vertuous
• vertuously
• vertuousnesse

Descendants

• English: virtue (obsolete vertue)
• Scots: virtue

References

• “vert?, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-09.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French vertu.

Noun

vertu f (plural vertus)

1. virtue (goodness, moralness)

Descendants

• French: vertu

Old French

Etymology

From Latin virt?s, virt?tem.

Noun

vertu f (oblique plural vertus, nominative singular vertu, nominative plural vertus)

1. valour; honour; goodness; virtue

Synonyms

• proeche
• cortoisie

Descendants

• ? Middle English: vertu
  • Scots: virtue
  • English: virtue
• Middle French: vertu
  • French: vertu