Etymologically
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valor

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈvælɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English valour, also valor,[2] borrowed from Old French valour, also valor,[3][4][2][5] from Late Latin valor (“value, worth”),[3][4][6][5] from valeō (“to be strong, be worth”),[3][7][6][5] from Proto-Indo-European *wal- (“to be strong”).[3] The Anglo-Norman word, valur, is recorded from the early 12th century, meaning value, worth, reputation, power and courage.[8] Barnhart and Etymonline take the sense of courage from Italian valore, from the same Late Latin word,[4][3] while Hoad takes it from valorous.[9] The OED treats the spelling valor as a variant of valour made after the Medieval Latin word, or taken directly from it.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Worth or value: probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin.[4] Etymonline dates it to about 1300, in the sense of worthiness in the chivalric virtues, nobility of character or breeding,[3][2] and the OED to about 1330, as worth arising from personal qualities or rank.[11]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word meant worthiness of character, and also the value of a thing or the sum it was worth.[2][11][5] Chaucer used valour twice.[12] The sense of courage, especially in battle, is recorded from 1581,[11][4] by the 1580s in Etymonline,[3] and it replaced the older senses of worth, which had died out by the 17th to 19th centuries.[5][10] From 1606 the word could also stand for a brave person, or serve as a mock title.[11][5] Johnson (1755) defined it as "personal bravery; strength; prowess".[13]

Timeline

  • probably before 1300 – value, worth.[4]
  • c. 1330 – worth arising from personal qualities or rank (obsolete).[11]
  • c. 1350 – the sum that a thing is worth (obsolete).[11]
  • 1467 – the spelling valor, in the phrase of great valor.[10]
  • 1581 – courage, bravery, especially in war.[11][4]
  • 1606 – a brave person; a mock title.[11]
  • 1800 – a valuation of church property.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Courage in facing danger or hardship, especially in battle; bravery: The medal honoured her valor under fire.[7][14][5]
  2. (archaic) A brave person; also as a mocking title.[5][11]
  3. (obsolete) Value, worth.[7][10][5]

Usage notes

Valour is the British spelling, and valor the American one.[7][14][15][3] In the sense of courage, the OED marks valor as now chiefly American.[10]

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  7. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  12. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  13. ^ 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 Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  15. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House