Middle English Dictionary Entry
?vallentẹ̄ n.
Entry Info
| Forms | vallentẹ̄ n. |
| Etymology | OF valenté, var. of vaillandie. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
Note: Cp. valence n.(2).
1.
?Might, power, strength; ?anomalous spelling of volunte n., 'will.'.
Associated quotations
- c1475(?c1451) Worcester Bk.Noblesse (Roy 18.B.22:N&W)8/167 : Why…princes shuld maynteyne werre…dame Cristin saiethe .v. causes principall: thre of them bene of right and the other tweyn of vallente [F (Christine de Pisan, Livre des faits d'armes 1.4): volunte] …of violente [alt. to: violence], as for to be venged for dammage…the othir to conquere straunge countrees.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: French volente 'will, volition, etc.' (= English volunte n.) lies behind both vallente and violente (altered to violence) in the English. The English words therefore represent either errors or misapprehensions and reinterpretations, whether scribal or authorial.