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It seems to me that the "Hollywood bravery" you nicely describe really is bravery - Oxford Dictionaries says the word comes from French braverie or Italian brav
by ljcn 8y ago
It seems to me that the "Hollywood bravery" you nicely describe really is bravery - Oxford Dictionaries says the word comes from French braverie or Italian braveria (boldness), based on Latin barbarus (c.f. barbarous). Alternatively it may be from bravo (wild, savage).
Courage on the other hand comes from Old French corage, from Latin cor (heart).
I think based on this the divers are courageous, not brave.
- braythwayt 8y agoIt's true that the word comes from those roots, but the Oxford dictionary you cite says plainly that the definition of the word as it is used today is: > Courageous behaviour or character. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bravery https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bravery Just as long as we all agree that cave diving is not about being that ridiculous Hollywood stereotype dude who deliberately breaks all the rules for no damn reason and it works out because he broke all the rules for no damn reason.
- ljcn 8y agoI was agreeing with you. You wrote yourself that modern usage is synonymous, so I thought it would be interesting to look at the etymology too. For the record the full OED favours the latter root for bravery (bravo < Old Italian braido, brado (wild, savage)). Strange they don't say the same thing.