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Origin and history of virtue

virtue(n.)

c. 1200, vertu, "moral life and conduct, uprightness of life, the opposite of vice; a particular moral excellence," from Anglo-French and Old French vertu "force, strength, vigor; moral strength; qualities, abilities" (10c. in Old French), from Latin virtutem (nominative virtus) "moral strength, high character, goodness; manliness; valor, bravery, courage (in war); excellence, worth," from vir "man" (from PIE root *wi-ro- "man").

For my part I honour with the name of virtue the habit of acting in a way troublesome to oneself and useful to others. [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]

Especially (in women) "chastity, sexual purity" from 1590s.

Phrase by virtue of (early 13c.) preserves a Middle English sense of "efficacy, inherent power," a property capable of producing certain effects. The 14c. Wycliffe Bible has virtue where KJV uses power. The seven cardinal virtues (early 14c.) were natural (justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude) and theological (hope, faith, charity). To make a virtue of a necessity (late 14c.) translates Latin facere de necessitate virtutem [Jerome].

also from c. 1200

Entries linking to virtue

virtu(n.)

1722, "passion for works of art;" 1771, "curious or interesting quality in an object of art;" from Italian virtu "excellence," from Latin virtutem (nominative virtus) "virtue, goodness, manliness" (see virtue).

A doublet of virtue, borrowed during a period when all things Italian were in vogue in fashionable England. Sometimes spelled vertu, as though from French, but this sense of the word is not in French. Also compare virtuoso.

virtual(adj.)

late 14c., "influencing by physical virtues or capabilities, effective with respect to inherent natural qualities," from Medieval Latin virtualis, from Latin virtus "excellence, potency, efficacy," literally "manliness, manhood" (see virtue). It preserves Middle English virtue in the sense of "efficacy, power to do."

The meaning "being something in essence or effect not in fact; existing virtually though not actually" is attested from mid-15c., probably via the now-obsolete sense of "capable of producing a certain effect" (early 15c.). Opposed to actual, real, literal.

By 1831 in optics, of apparent images, as in a reflection. The computer sense of "not physically existing but made to appear by software" is attested from 1959, originally of memory.

*wi-ro-

*wī-ro-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "man."

It might form all or part of: curia; Fergus; triumvir; triumvirate; Weltanschauung; Weltschmerz; werewolf; wergeld; world; virago; virile; virility; virtue; virtuosity; virtuoso; virtuous.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit virah, Avestan vira-, Latin vir, Lithuanian vyras, Old Irish fer, Welsh gwr, Gothic wair, Old English wer "a man."