vaillance

Forms

vaillance f (plural vaillances)^[1] Anglo-Norman vaillaunce, valaunce.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French vaillant + -ance.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Its adjective is the old present participle of valoir, which is from Latin valeō (“to be strong, to be worth”).^[8] The TLFi compares Latin and Late Latin valentia (“bodily strength, vigour, courage, capacity”),^[3] and Wiktionary allows that the word may come from it.^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan valensa, Spanish valencia and Italian valenzia.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is in Wace's Brut (about 1155), meaning warlike valour: mult esteit de grant vaillance, “he was of very great valour”.^[3][9] The Grand Robert and the GLLF date the word to about 1130, in the Eneas, which the TLFi dates about 1160.^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Like vaillant, the word had two lines of meaning from the 12th century.^[9] One was “value, price” (about 1160: n'en porterés le vaillance d'un gant, “you won't carry off a glove's worth of it”), with the lost senses “equivalence” (1174–1176) and “dues” (1285); Littré already calls the sense “what a person or thing is worth” obsolete.^[3][9][7] The other was courage in war (about 1155), and moral worth in the courtly songs of the Châtelain de Coucy.^[3]

From the late 14th century une vaillance, des vaillances meant a brave deed (Froissart), a use that lasted into the early 17th century.^[3][9] In 1858 George Sand used the word for courage and endurance in the face of hardship.^[3][9]

Timeline

• c. 1155 – Vaillance “valour” in Wace's Brut.^[3]
• c. 1160 – “Value, price” in the Moniage Guillaume.^[3]
• 1174–1176 – “Equivalence” in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Thomas Becket.^[3][2]
• Late 12th–early 13th century – “Moral worth” in the Châtelain de Coucy.^[3]
• 1285 – Vailhance “dues”.^[9]
• Late 14th century – Vaillances “brave deeds” in Froissart.^[3]
• 1858 – George Sand uses it for moral courage.^[3][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) valour, bravery in war or in the face of danger.^[6][3]
2. (dated) The courage of a person whom suffering, hardship or work do not daunt: Elle affronta la maladie avec vaillance.^[6][3]
3. (obsolete) Worth, the value of a person or thing.^[7][5]

Related words

• vaillant
• valoir
• vaillamment

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert