"Chickenhearted" and "Chicken-livered": How Folklore Created These Descriptions of a Coward
The English language has many ways of describing a coward. Two of the most colorful are chickenhearted and chicken-livered. The origin of these words lies in common observations about ordinary chickens and in old folk beliefs about the heart and the liver.
English folk belief has long held that the heart is the seat of courage. The word heart has been recorded in that sense from the Old English period (since at least the 9th century) till today. To take heart, meaning to pluck up courage, and to have the heart, meaning to be courageous, have been around since the 12th century.
Attaching animal names to the word heart also began long ago. The lion, known for its courage, was a common example. England's King Richard I (born 1157, died 1199) was known, because of his reputation for courage, as Richard the Lionheart(ed). Even today the noun lionheart refers to someone with the heart of a lion, that is, a courageous person. The adjective lionhearted means brave.
Then there is the other end of the animal spectrum—the chicken. Barnyard chickens are easily frightened. For hundreds of years the word chicken has been used as a noun to refer to someone who is as fearful and defenseless as a chicken. Shakespeare, for example, used the word in that sense in his 1611 play Cymbeline (act 5, scene 3, line 42).
If the lion, that well-known symbol of courage, led to lionhearted, then surely it was inevitable that the chicken, that well-known symbol of fearfulness, would lead to chickenhearted. By at least the early 17th century, the noun chickenheart, meaning a cowardly person, was in common use. The adjective form soon followed, as in this example: "Where 'tis agreed by bullies chicken-hearted / To fright the ladies first, and then be parted" (John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar [Friar], 1681).
The liver, too, was the object of folklore. In ancient times, the liver was believed to be the seat of love and violent passion. Recorded allusions to that belief are found in English texts dating from at least the 13th century (though the belief itself goes back much further).
English folk belief has long held that the heart is the seat of courage. The word heart has been recorded in that sense from the Old English period (since at least the 9th century) till today. To take heart, meaning to pluck up courage, and to have the heart, meaning to be courageous, have been around since the 12th century.
Attaching animal names to the word heart also began long ago. The lion, known for its courage, was a common example. England's King Richard I (born 1157, died 1199) was known, because of his reputation for courage, as Richard the Lionheart(ed). Even today the noun lionheart refers to someone with the heart of a lion, that is, a courageous person. The adjective lionhearted means brave.
Then there is the other end of the animal spectrum—the chicken. Barnyard chickens are easily frightened. For hundreds of years the word chicken has been used as a noun to refer to someone who is as fearful and defenseless as a chicken. Shakespeare, for example, used the word in that sense in his 1611 play Cymbeline (act 5, scene 3, line 42).
If the lion, that well-known symbol of courage, led to lionhearted, then surely it was inevitable that the chicken, that well-known symbol of fearfulness, would lead to chickenhearted. By at least the early 17th century, the noun chickenheart, meaning a cowardly person, was in common use. The adjective form soon followed, as in this example: "Where 'tis agreed by bullies chicken-hearted / To fright the ladies first, and then be parted" (John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar [Friar], 1681).
The liver, too, was the object of folklore. In ancient times, the liver was believed to be the seat of love and violent passion. Recorded allusions to that belief are found in English texts dating from at least the 13th century (though the belief itself goes back much further).
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