vertu

See also: vertù

English

Alternative forms

• vertù, virtu

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian virtù, †vertù (“moral worth, virtue (13th century); determination, perseverance, military valour (14th century); study of the liberal or fine arts; appreciation of, taste for, or expertise in the fine arts; objets d'art collectively (16th century)”); or from French vertu (“virtue”), ultimately from Latin virtūt-, virtus (“virtue”). Doublet of virtue; compare also virtuoso.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /vəˈtuː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /vɚˈtu/

Noun

vertu (uncountable)

1. (art, now historical) The fine arts as a subject of study or expertise; understanding of arts and antiquities. [from 18th c.]
   • 1750, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling‎^[1], volume III, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Millar, →OCLC, pages 238–239:

     To give them their Due, they ſoar a Step higher than their Predeceſſors, and may be called Men of Wiſdom and Vertù (take heed you do not read Virtue).

   • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 233:

     He engaged a certain Abbé of distinguished taste in virtù to attend them as their Ciceroné, and explain the antiquities brought from Herculaneum and Pompeia […] .

2. (art, now historical) Objets d'art collectively. [from 18th c.]
   • 1812, William Chinnery, A Catalogue of a Truly Valuable Assemblage of Articles of Virtu of William Chinnery [...]‎^[2], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, title page:

     A Catalogue of a Truly Valuable Assemblage of Articles of Virtu of William Chinnery, Esq. Brought from Gillwell, Essex […] .

   • 1851, Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick or The White Whale”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎^[3], Boston: The St. Botolph Society, published 1922, →OCLC, page 423:

     Now, when with royal Tranquo I visited this wondrous whale, and saw the skull an altar, and the artificial smoke ascending from where the real jet had issued, I marvelled that the king should regard a chapel as an object of vertù.

   • 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin‎^[4], London: John Cassell, →OCLC, page 178:

     The more drawers and closets there were, the more hiding-holes could Charlotte make for the accommodation of old rags, hair-combs, old shoes, ribbons, cast-off artificial flowers, and other articles of vertù, wherein her soul delighted.

3. Especially with reference to the writings of Machiavelli (1469–1527): the requisite qualities for political or military success; vitality, determination; power. [from 19th c.]
   • 1976, Niccolò Machiavelli; James B. Atkinson, transl., The Prince [The Library of Liberal Arts; LLA-172], Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, ISBN 978-0-672-51542-2; reprinted as Indianapolis, Ind.: Hackett Publishing Company, 2008, ISBN 978-0-87220-920-6, pages 69–70:

     All these connotations, even the positive and moral ones, are within the range of significations Machiavelli wants us to hear in “virtù.” For him the word suggests a kind of flexibility that can initiate effective, efficient, and energetic action based on a courageous assertion of the will and an ability to execute the products of one's own calculations. Such calculations are a significant adjunct to his ideas about virtù: they outline what might be called an internal or mental virtù.

   • 1996, Harvey C[laflin] Mansfield[, Jr.], Machiavelli's Virtue, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, pages 6–7:

     He alternately shocks his readers and provides relief from the very shocks he administers: Agathocles has virtù but cannot be said to have virtù. It is not enough to say that he uses the word in several “senses”; he uses it in two contradictory senses as to whether it includes or excludes evil deeds.

   • 2000, Jack Donnelly, Realism and International Relations, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 175:

     To oversimplify, Machiavelli uses virtù to refer both to “Christian” moral virtues, the conventional universalistic values embodied in the Golden Rule, and to a set of more particularistic classical virtues centered on honor. Together they comprise Machiavelli's account of the most noble and distinctive human excellences, achievements, and aspirations.

4. Moral worth; virtue, virtuousness. [from 20th c.]

Related terms

• objet de vertu

 

Translations

knowledge of fine arts

• Finnish: taiteen tuntemus

objets d'art collectively

• Bulgarian: художествено произведение (hudožestveno proizvedenie)
• Finnish: taide (fi)

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French vertu, from Old French vertu, from Latin virtūtem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɛʁ.ty/

• Audio:

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Noun

vertu f (plural vertus)

1. virtue
   • 2004 October 1, “Huit-queues-et-demie [Eight-and-a-Half-Tails]”, in Guerriers de Kamigawa [Warriors of Kamigawa], Wizards of the Coast:

     « La vertu est une lumière intérieure qui peut toujours sauver une âme. »

     “Virtue is an inner light that can save a soul.”

Derived terms

• en vertu de
• évertuer
• femme de petite vertu
• on ne peut pas être contre la vertu
• vertu cardinale
• vertueux

Related terms

• virtuel
• virtuose

Further reading

• “vertu”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [fɛɐ̯ˈtuː]

Verb

vertu

1. singular imperative of vertun
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of vertun

Middle English

Alternative forms

• verteu, vertew, vertiwe, vertue, vertuu, vertuwe, vertwe, virtew, virtu, virtue, wertue, vartu, wartu

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French and Anglo-Norman vertu, from Latin virtūtem, accusative of virtūs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛrtiu̯/, /ˈvirtiu̯/

Noun

vertu (plural vertues)

1. An ability, specialty, or feature:
   1. Medical or pharmaceutical ability (either generally or specifically)
   2. A mechanism that causes a bodily function to work.
2. Power, competence, ability; ability to effect behaviour or action:
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[5], published c. 1410, Apocalips 1:16, page 117v, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     ⁊ he hadde in his riȝthond ſeuene ſterris .· ⁊ a ſwerd ſcharp on euer eþir ſide wente out of his mouþ / ⁊ his face .· as þe ſunne ſchyneþ in his vertu.

     And he had in his right hand seven stars, a sharp sword came out both sides of his mouth, and his face [was] like the sun shining with its power.

   1. Divine power or beneficence (sometimes inherent in an object)
      • 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “The Knẏghtes Tale”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published [c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 30, recto, lines 2249-2250:

        Youre vertu is ſo greet / in heuene aboue / That if yow liſt / I shal wel haue my loue […]

        Your power is so great in the heavens above / That if you want, I'm going to have my love […]

      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[6], published c. 1410, Petre ·i· 4:14, page 112v, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

        if ȝe ben diſpiſid foꝛ þe name of criſt .· ȝe ſchulen be bleſſid / foꝛ þat þat is of þe onour ⁊ of þe gloꝛie ⁊ of þe vertu of god · ⁊ þe ſpirit þat is his .· ſchal reſte on ȝou

        If you are despised because of the name of Christ, you will be blessed, because of that which is the honour, glory, and power of God, and his spirit will rest on you.

   2. Political or legislative power or jurisdiction.
   3. Astrological or occult power or influence.
   4. Importance or desirability; the property of having value.
   5. The means or method that something is done with or through.
   6. (rare) The property of causing power, effects or results.
3. Fortitude, strength, or might; power innate to a living being:
   1. Willpower or mental fibre; one's ability to fulfill one's will.
   2. Sapience, wisdom, higher functioning or that which causes it.
   3. Raw physical strength, endurance, or health.
4. Virtue (moral goodness or capability):
   1. Glory, honourableness, or knightliness; that expected by chivalry.
   2. A particular virtue believed to be morally beneficial or good.
      • c. 1460, Turpines story: a Middle English translation of the Pseudo-Turpin chronicle‎^[7], published 2004, →ISBN, Capitulum viii, page 13:

        […] we sholde dyȝe for vicis / and liffe with vertuus, […]

        […] we should die for vices / and live with virtues, […]

   3. A moral directive or instruction or the body of them; morals.
5. One of several ranks of angels (being above "powers" and below "dominions").
6. (by extension) A military troop or band; a group of combatants.
7. (rare) A title or appellation granted or bestowed upon a divinity.

Related terms

• vertual
• vertually
• vertules
• vertuous
• vertuously
• vertuousnesse

 

Descendants

• English: virtue (obsolete vertue)
• Scots: virtue
• Yola: vartue

References

• “vertū, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-09.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French vertu.

Noun

vertu f (plural vertus)

1. virtue (goodness, moralness)

Descendants

• French: vertu

Old French

Etymology

From Latin virtūs, virtūtem.

Noun

vertu oblique singular, f (oblique plural vertus, nominative singular vertu, nominative plural vertus)

1. valour; honour; goodness; virtue

Synonyms

• proeche
• cortoisie

Descendants

• → Middle English: vertu
  • Scots: virtue
  • English: virtue
• Middle French: vertu
  • French: vertu