Other forms: courtesies
Courtesy is polite and considerate behaviour. Common courtesy, do him the courtesy, courtesy of the house.
The word is from court, since courtesy first meant behaving as one did at court, and the class history is right there in the spelling. Courtesy of somebody now means by their favour, as in a photograph reproduced courtesy of the owner.
1nouncourtesyPolite and considerate behaviour.
“The staff treated every guest with great courtesy and patience.”
courtesy is a behaviour.
Old French curteisie comes from curteis, courtly, from cort, a court.
Old French
curteisie
Anglo-Norman
curtesie
Middle English
curteisie
English, today
courtesy
From Middle English curteisie, curtesie, from Anglo-Norman curtesie, from Old French curteisie, cortoisie.[http://books.google.ca/books?id=aDhGlKL3h00C&pg=PA97&lpg=PA97&dq=courtesy+etymology&source=bl&ots=t3EKf41eNo&sig=orGVGkmIiBWn0P8md
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA