courage (French)
Where does "courage" come from?
The French interjection 'courage' is inherited through Middle French 'corage' and Old French 'corage'[1], where it is attested in the Alexis[3]. These forms trace back to the Vulgar Latin '*corāticum'[1], which was formed from Latin 'cor' meaning heart[5]. The Latin root itself descends through Proto-Italic from Proto-Indo-European[2]. Similar cognates appear in other Romance languages such as Spanish 'coraje' and Italian 'coraggio'.
Open questions
- The Vulgar Latin form *corāticum and its base *corem are reconstructed forms. [1] [5]
Full etymology tree
- courage (French), 'chin up! keep going! take heart!'
- inherited corage (Middle French)
- inherited corage (Old French), 'courage'
- inherited *coraticum (Latin), 'heart, guts'
- derived *corem (Latin), 'accusative singular of coris'
- inherited cor (Latin), 'heart'
- inherited *kord (Proto-Italic), 'heart'
- inherited *ḱḗr ~ *ḱr̥d- (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *kord (Proto-Italic), 'heart'
- inherited cor (Latin), 'heart'
- suffix -aticum (Latin), 'Used to form nouns indicating pertinence to the root verb or noun.'
- derived *corem (Latin), 'accusative singular of coris'
- inherited *coraticum (Latin), 'heart, guts'
- inherited corage (Old French), 'courage'
- inherited corage (Middle French)
Ancestors
- corage (Old French)
- cor (Latin)
Cognates and doublets
- coratge (Catalan)
- coraggio (Italian)
- coratge (Occitan)
- coraje (Spanish)
Sources
- courage (French) - Wiktionary
- cor (Latin) - Wiktionary
- corage (Old French) - Wiktionary
- kord (Proto-Italic) - Wiktionary
- coraticum (Latin) - Wiktionary
Updated September 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris