Orgin of Gentlemen

[mercuryhope]

I was wondering how the word 'gentlemen' came to be. It seems a rather feminine word to describe an ideal man, especially as the word comes from more masculine times than we live in today? 

[ursula62]

It comes from the Latin word "gentilis" meaning belonging to a race or gens, and "man". It was originally used to mean a man of good family who had no need to work for a living.  The word "gentleman" doesn't have much to do with the word "gentle" as we know and use it today!

[Quizmonster]

The original use of the word in English meant 'a man of gentle birth'. That meant, quite specifically, someone from a family entitled to bear arms - as in 'coat of arms' - though not ranking among the nobility. The word was, effectively, virtually a 'title' in situations such as 'Gentleman-in-Waiting' at the royal court. Chaucer  has the earliest recorded use of the word in much the same sense as we mean it today...ie a man of chivalry, courtesy and fine feelings in general.

[Octavius]

I thought it was derived from "genteel"....

Possessing or exhibiting the qualities popularly regarded as belonging to high birth and breeding; free from vulgarity, or lowness of taste or behavior; adapted to a refined or cultivated taste; polite; well-bred; as, genteel company, manners, address.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Graceful in mien or form; elegant in appearance, dress, or manner; as, the lady has a genteel person. Law.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suited to the position of lady or a gentleman; as, to live in a genteel allowance.

 

 

[Quizmonster]

'Genteel' is just an updated - 17th century - version of 'gentle' which, along with 'gentleman' itself, dates back to the 13th century and the French original 'gentil'. In terms of family background, 'gentle' definitely signified the notion of being born above the common herd but lower than nobility.

I've no doubt but that Prince Charles would have approved of such fine social distinctions!

[Octavius]

According to another source....

 

......French and Old English components combined to form a new word, as the French 'gent (well born or noble)' and the Germanic 'man (one)' formed gentleman.....

 

 

[Quizmonster]

The only source that really matters as regards the etymology of English words - and 'gentleman' is unquestionably an English word, despite its foreign roots - is 'The Oxford English Dictionary'. Here's what it says about the word in its original usage:

"a man of gentle birth or having the same heraldic status as those of gentle birth; properly one who is entitled to bear arms, though not ranking among the nobility."

Note the points about 'gentle', 'heraldic/arms' and 'nobility'. The earliest recorded use of the word dates to 1275. The Chaucerian use I referred to earlier - and that of today - is clearly based on the idea that many people who don't fit the original definition as provided by the OED above might well possess all the qualities such a relatively high-born person would have had.