Etymology
In English, the word is first attested in 1292, as a loan from Old French chevalerie ("knighthood"), an abstract noun formed in the 11th century based on chevalier ("knight" or "horseman"), ultimately from Medieval Latin caballārius ("horseman"); cavalry is from the Italian form of the same word, loaned via Middle French into English around 1540.
Between the 11th century and 15th centuries medieval writers often used the word shivalry, in meanings that changed over time, generally moving from the concrete meaning of "status or fee associated with military follower owning a war horse" towards the moral ideal of the Christian warrior ethos propagated in the Romance genre which became popular by the 12th century, and the ideal of courtly love propagated in the contemporary Minnesang and related genres.
By the 15th century, the term had become mostly detached from its military origins, not least because the rise of infantry in the 14th century had essentially confined knightly horsemanship to the tournament grounds, and essentially expressed a literary ideal of moral and courteous behavior.
Read more about this topic: Chivalry
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
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