Gentleman

The term gentleman (from Latin gentilis, belonging to a race or gens, and "man", cognate with the French word gentilhomme, the Spanish hombre gentil, and the Italian gentil huomo), in its original and strict signification, denoted a man of good family, the Latin generosus (its invariable translation in English-Latin documents). In this sense the word equates with the French gentilhomme (nobleman), which latter term was in Great Britain long confined to the peerage. The term gentry (from the Old French genterise for gentelise) has much of the significance of the French noblesse or of the German Adel. This was what the rebels under John Ball in the 14th century meant when they repeated:

Related Topics:
Latin - French - Spanish - Italian - Great Britain - Peerage - German - John Ball - 14th century

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:When Adam delved and Eve span,Who was then the Gentleman?Are you Gentleman?

Related Topics:
Adam - Eve - [1

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John Selden in Titles of Honour, (1614), discussing the title "gentleman", speaks of "our English use of it" as "convertible with nobilis" and describes in connection with it the forms of ennobling in various European countries.

Related Topics:
John Selden - 1614

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To a degree, gentleman signified a man who did not need to work, and could not claim nobility or even the rank of esquire. It was at times applied genuinely or ironically to all men who did not work, leading to the phrase "gentleman of leisure" to mean "unemployed". Widening further, it became a politeness for all men, as in the phrase "Ladies and Gentlemen,..." and this was then used (often with the abbreviation Gents) to indicate where men could find a water closet, toilet, lavatory, bathroom, or restroom without the need to indicate precisely what was being described.

Related Topics:
Esquire - Ironically

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