chevalier

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English chevaler, also chivaler,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman chevaler, also chivaler,^[3][5][4][6] and Old French chevalier (“knight, horseman”),^[3][5][4] from Late Latin caballārius (“horseman”),^[7][5][4][8] from caballus (“horse”).^{[3][6][9][10]} The Latin word is also the source of Old Occitan cavallier, Spanish caballero, Portuguese cavalleiro and Italian cavaliere,^[3][5] and the English word is a doublet of cavalier.^[4][10] The regular English outcome would have been chevaler or chivaler (compare chivalry), but in the 16th century the word was refashioned after modern French, which gave it its spelling and French-style pronunciation.^{[3][4][10][5]} The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from 1113–19, for a horseman, a mounted soldier and a knight.^[11] Weekley compares German Ritter (“knight”), literally "rider".^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

A horseman, especially a mounted soldier or knight: 1377, in Langland's Piers Plowman (B text), in the phrase champioun chiualer.^[3][2] Barnhart dates the form chivaler to about 1378 and chevaler to about 1399.^[4] Etymonline notes that it occurs as a surname from about 1200.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it was a word for a knight of noble birth bound to serve his lord, and it was also used as a title.^[2] The sense of a chivalrous man or a lady's gallant is recorded from 1630, in Dekker,^[3][10] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as "a knight; a gallant strong man", quoting Shakespeare's Henry VI.^[13] From 1728 it was used for members of orders of knighthood and of modern French orders such as the Legion of Honour;^[3] in the 18th century the Chevalier or Chevalier de Saint George was a name for the Stuart claimant James, the Old Pretender.^[3][12] A chevalier of industry or chevalier of fortune, after the French chevalier d'industrie, was from 1750 an adventurer who lived by his wits, a swindler.^[3] The OED also records it for cadets of the old French nobility who became soldiers (1840), for the knight in chess (1796) and as a name of the greenshank (1885).^[3] The original sense, a mounted knight, is now historical or archaic.^[3][8][6]

Timeline

• 1377 – a horseman, a mounted soldier or knight.^[3][2]
• 1630 – a chivalrous man, a gallant.^[3]
• 1726 – the Chevalier, a name of the Stuart claimant.^[3]
• 1728 – a member of an order of knighthood or of a French order of merit.^[3]
• 1750 – chevalier of industry, an adventurer or swindler.^[3]
• 1796 – the knight in chess.^[3]
• 1840 – a cadet of the old French nobility who took up a military career.^[3][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A member of certain orders of knighthood or of merit, especially of the lowest rank of a French order such as the Legion of Honour: The old violinist was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour.^[14][8][3]
2. A chivalrous man; a gallant.^[14][3][6]
3. (French history) A mounted soldier or knight, especially a cadet; also the lowest title of rank in the old French nobility.^[14][3]
4. (archaic) A horseman or knight; a cavalier.^{[8][14][3][13]}

Related words

• cavalier
• chivalry
• chivalrous
• caballero
• cavalry
• cavalcade

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins