Chivalry is the code of honour a knight was meant to live by. The age of chivalry, chivalry is dead, a code of chivalry.
It was a literary ideal at least as much as a practice, and the poems describing it were read by the men expected to follow it. Modern use narrows it to courtesy towards women, which is a small piece of the original. The French cheval means a horse.
1nounchivalryThe code of honour a knight was meant to live by.
“Knights were expected to follow the rules of chivalry, protecting the weak and keeping their word.”
chivalry is a code.
Old French chevalerie comes from chevalier, a knight, from cheval, a horse. A knight was defined by riding one.
Medieval Latin
caballarius — horseman, knight
Old French
chevalerie — knighthood, chivalry, nobility, cavalry
Middle English
chivalerie
English, today
chivalry
Built from
From Middle English chivalerie, a late 13th century loan from Old French chevalerie (“knighthood, chivalry, nobility, cavalry”) (11th century), the -erie (“-ery”) abstract of chevaler (“knight, horseman”), from Medieval Latin caballarius (“horseman, knight”), from caballus (“horse”). Medieval Latin caballaria (“knighthood, status or fief of a knight”) dates to the 12th century. a doublet of cavalry.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA