[Hartwood] Sept 8 word of the day: GALLANT

[John Mail]

   Word of the Day 
 
September 8  
  
gallant\GAL-unt\ 
  
 
adjective
 
1 : showy in dress or bearing : smart
  
2 a : splendid, stately
  
  b : spirited, brave
  
  c : nobly chivalrous and often self-sacrificing
  
3 : courteously and elaborately attentive especially to ladies 
 
  
 
   The climbers made agallant attempt but failed to reach the summit of the great mountain.
 
"Every year, crowds massed to watch a vivid reenactment of the 1777 Battle of Germantown, George Washington's gallant but failed attack on British troops holed up at Cliveden." — From an article by Stephan Salisbury in The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 3, 2012 
  
 
  
 
   In the late 14th century, Middle English adopted "galaunt" (now spelled "gallant") from Middle French "galant," a participial form of the verb "galer," meaning "to have a good time." This origin is more apparent in the earliest uses of the English "gallant," both as a noun meaning "a man of fashion" and as an adjective meaning "marked by show, color, smartness, or splendor especially in dress." French "galer" is related to "gale" ("pleasure, merrymaking") which has also entered the language, by way of Italian, as "gala" ("a festive celebration"). Middle English also had a noun "gale" which meant "singing, merriment, or mirth" (and is unrelated to the "gale" used to indicate a strong current of air) which may also have been related to Old French "gale."
 
Word Family Quiz: What descendant of "galer" can mean "to give pleasure or amusement to"? The answer is …     
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://tirrigh.org/pipermail/hartwood_tirrigh.org/attachments/20120908/0add575b/attachment.htm>