Corage

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Mental or moral strength that lets a person face danger, fear or hardship without backing down ; an old sense meaning the heart, mind or inner spirit of a person
2. The quality of boldness that enables someone to confront peril steadily ; in older usage, the seat of feeling and temper within a person's heart and mind
3. Firmness of spirit in the face of threat or difficulty ; an obsolete meaning referring to a person's heart, disposition or inner nature

Etymology: Middle English "corage" is the older spelling of "courage," and it came into English from Old French "corage," which meant heart, mind, or inner spirit. The French word descends from Latin "cor," "heart," so the original sense was closer to "what a person feels in the heart" than to bold action. Over time, that sense of heartfelt spirit narrowed toward the willingness to face danger. The shift is easy to trace. Medieval writers used the word for temper, disposition, and even desire, so a person could have "good corage" in the sense of a good heart or good intentions. The idea of courage as fearless conduct grew out of this broader sense of inner strength, with the heart as the seat of resolve. The spelling "corage" was standard in Middle English and was later regularized to "courage" in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, partly under the influence of Latin-style spelling.