virtuous | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

28 entries found.

c. 1300, "characterized by vigor or strength; having qualities befitting a knight; valiant, hardy, courageous;" from Old French vertuos "righteous; potent; of good quality; mighty, valiant, brave" (12c.), from Late Latin virtuosus "good, virtuous," from Latin virtus "moral strength, high character, goodness; manliness; valor, bravery, courage (in war); excellence, worth," from vir "man" (from PIE root *wi-ro- "man").

From mid-14c. in English as "having beneficial or efficacious properties;" late 14c. (of persons) as "having excellent moral qualities; conforming to religious law." Related: Virtuously; virtuousness.

virtuosity (n.)

late 15c., "manly qualities," from Medieval Latin virtuositas, from Late Latin virtuosus (see virtuous). As "skill or abilities of a virtuoso," 1670s, from virtuoso + -ity.

virtuoso (n.)

1610s, "scholar, connoisseur," from Italian virtuoso (plural virtuosi), noun use of adjective meaning "skilled, learned, of exceptional worth," from Late Latin virtuosus (see virtuous). Meaning "person with great skill, one who is a master of the mechanical part of a fine art" (as in music) is first attested 1743.

well-mannered (adj.)

late 14c., "moral, virtuous," from well (adv.) + mannered. Meaning "with good manners" is from 1540s.

Hera

sister and wife of Zeus, the type of virtuous womanhood, from Greek Hēra, literally "protectress," related to hērōs "hero," originally "defender, protector" (see hero (n.1)).

suttee (n.)

"self-cremation of a Hindu widow on her husband's funeral pyre," 1786, from Hindi, from Sanskrit sati "virtuous woman, faithful wife," used also of the burning, fem. of sat "good, wise, virtuous, true," literally "existing," present participle of asmi "I am" (from PIE root *es- "to be"). Properly, the word for the woman who does so. The custom was abolished in British India in 1829.

honest (adj.)

c. 1300, "respectable, decent, of neat appearance," also "free from fraud," from Old French oneste, honeste "virtuous, honorable; decent, respectable" (12c.; Modern French honnête), from Latin honestus "honorable, respected, regarded with honor," figuratively "deserving honor, honorable, respectable," from honos (see honor (n.)) + suffix -tus. Main modern sense of "dealing fairly, truthful, free from deceit" is c. 1400, as is sense of "virtuous, having the virtue of chastity" (of women). Phrase to make an honest woman of "marry (a woman) after seduction" is from 1620s.

Elysium (n.)

1590s, from Latin Elysium, from Greek Ēlysion (pedion) "Elysian field," abode of the blessed after death, where heroes and the virtuous dwell, which is of unknown origin, perhaps from Pre-Greek (a non-IE substrate Mediterranean language). Also used figuratively of a situation of complete happiness.

Bodhisattva (n.)

"one of a class of beings in Mahayana Buddhism who have attained supreme wisdom," 1828, from Sanskrit, literally "one whose essence is perfect knowledge," from bodhi "perfect knowledge" (see Buddha) + sattva "reality, being," from sat-, sant- "existing, true, virtuous," from PIE root *es- "to be."

satyagraha (n.)

Indian form of passive resistance, 1920, in writings of Gandhi, from Sanskrit satyagraha "insistence on truth," from satya "truth, truthfulness" (from sat- "existing, true, virtuous," from PIE root *es- "to be") + agraha "pertinacity," from gṛbhṇāti, gṛhṇāti "he seizes" (from PIE root *ghrebh- (1) "to seize, reach;" see grab (v.)). Related: Satyagrahi.

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