GENTLEMAN. Under this denomination are comprehended all above the rank of yeomen, and hence noblemen are truly called gentlemen.
The word is formed of the French gentilhomme, or rather of gentil, fine, fashionable, becoming, and the Saxon honestus, or honesto loco natus. The same signification belongs to the Italian gentiluomo, and the Spanish hijo, or hijo dalgo, that is, the son of somebody, or a person of note. If we go farther back, we shall find gentleman originally derived from the Latin gentilis homo; which was used amongst the Romans to signify a race of noble persons the same name, born of free or ingenuous parents, and whose ancestors had never been slaves or put to death by law. Hence Cicero in his Topics says, Gentiles sunt, qui se eodem sunt nomine, ab ingenuis oriundi, quorum nomen nemo servitutem servivit, qui capite non sunt dimittendi. Some hold that it was formed from gentile, meaning gentle; and that the ancient Franks, who conquered Gaul, and were converted to Christianity, were called gentiles by the natives, as being yet heathens. Others state, that in the decline of the Roman empire, as recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus, there were two companies of brave soldiers, the one called gentiles, and the other scutarii; and that hence they derive the names gentleman and esquire. (See Esquire.) His opinion is confirmed by Pasquier, who supposes the appellation gentiles and esquires to have been transmitted from the Roman soldiery; especially as it was to the gentiles and scutarii, the bravest of the soldiery, that the principal benefices and portions of land were assigned.