valiantnessn.
? Obsolete.
1.
a. The quality or condition of being valiant; valiancy, valour. Also personified.Very common in the 16th cent.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > courage > valour > [noun]
earlshipOE
prowessc1325
pruancec1330
valiantisec1330
wightshipc1330
valure?a1350
wightness1377
orpednessa1398
orpedshipc1400
valiantness1470
valiance1475
fierceness1490
priceheadc1540
valiancy1574
valor1586
valencea1604
valeur1646
valorousness1727
α.
β. 1508 W. Dunbar Ballade Barnard Stewart in Poems (1998) I. 179 B in thi name betaknis batalrus,..W valyeantnes, S for strenewite.c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) 5 The toune of sauerne baris vytnes of his delegent vailȝeantnes.1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus iv. f. 61v Sine Cheualrie come in with vailȝeantnes.1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur xii. xii. 608 I vnderstande thy valyauntnesse wel.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) 16 The whiche..Charlemagne, by hys prowesse and valyauntnes, had dyscomfyted.
1513 Life Henry V (1911) 155 The Englishmen..excelled so farr the Frenchmen in there valyantnes, that they remayned conquerors in the fielde.
1540 R. Morison tr. J. L. Vives Introd. Wysedome (new ed.) B v Strengthe and valiantnesse is, to suffise and accomplyshe the exercises of vertu without werynes.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. xxv Which honor [i.e. knighthood] in times past..was the rewarde of valeauntnes.
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 343 Mahomet seeing this valiantnesse of the defendants, openly said [etc.].
1672 R. Baxter Church told of Bagshaw's Scandals i. 6 They call out for Valiantness in suffering.
1727 P. Walker Some Remarkable Passages Semple, Welwood & Cameron 89 The Valiantness of the Fourscore Priests, that withstood Uzziah.
b. Const. of (courage, heart, mind, etc.).
ΚΠ
1534 R. Whittington tr. Cicero Thre Bks. Tullyes Offyces i. sig. A.8 By right and lawe, whereof forse and valyauntnesse of herte doth ryse.
1539 R. Taverner Garden of Wysdom f. 4v It greued moch this excellent Prynce, that so stronge an herte and valyauntnesse of nature was spent in a matter of leudenesse.
1579 T. Twyne tr. Petrarch Phisicke against Fortune i. xv. 16 The mightinesse of the Citie and Empire, and the valiantnesse of the peoples myndes.
1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 409 Much inferiour to this great king in wealth and number of men, but not in hautinesse of mind and valiantnesse of courage.
1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ II. ii. at Magnanimitas Valiantness of heart and courage.
2. Physical strength; robustness, sturdiness, stalwartness of (body). rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > bodily constitution > bodily strength > [noun] > robustness
hardishipa1250
stalworthnessa1340
stalworthinessa1387
pithc1395
hardinessc1405
robustness?1533
valiantness1553
validity1578
robustiousness1600
robustuousness1648
robusticness1676
robusticity1777
hardihood1780
ironness1803
induration1827
robustihood1834
stalwartness1859
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 104 In the Iliades are described strengthe and valeantenes of the body.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 311 Bartholmew Leslie,..quhais..ablenes of mynd, valȝeantnes of body and fercenes of force, king Malcolme meruelet sa mekle.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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