Gentleman

Gentleman

The term gentleman (from Latin gentilis, belonging to a race or gens, and man, cognate with the French word gentilhomme, the Spanish Caballero, the Italian gentil uomo or gentiluomo and the Portuguese gentil-homem), in its original and strict signification, denoted a man of the lowest rank of the English gentry, standing below an esquire and above a yeoman.

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Famous quotes containing the word gentleman:

    I must have the gentleman to haul and draw with the mariner, and the mariner with the gentleman ... I would know him, that would refuse to set his hand to a rope, but I know there is not any such here.
    Francis, Sir Drake (1540–1596)

    I look upon England today as an old gentleman who is travelling with a great deal of baggage, trumpery which has accumulated from long housekeeping, which he has not the courage to burn.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    A gentleman does not remember old transgressions.
    —Chinese proverb.

    Confucian Analects.