Virtue (Latin virtus; Greek ) is moral excellence of a man or a woman. A virtue is a character trait valued as being good. The conceptual opposite of virtue is vice.

The Greek word (aretē) has not come into ordinary English. The English word virtue is derived from the Latin word virtus which is in turn from vir meaning "man" in the masculine sense. The word virtus means "the male function" conceived in terms of strength or force; hence "the power to accomplish". unrelated Latin word vis means simply "power" or "violence"; ancient grammarians were unable to distinguish the two words. Cf. Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: Histoire des mots.

Due to ancient social norms and these linguistic subtleties, virtus was sometimes identified with the masculine warlike virtues such as courage. This has sometimes led to a sense of irony concerning the supposed etymology. In English the word virtue is often used to refer to a woman's chastity. As the philosopher Leo Strauss expresses it, "The mystery of Western thought is how a term that originally meant the manliness of a man came to mean the chastity of a woman."

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Saints look like the best team in the league right now...Colts by virtue of record look 2nd best..Indy looks beatable, Saints unstoppable!!
The_Prodigy_09 (The_Prodigy_09) Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:57:32 -0000
Saints look like the best team in the league right now...Colts by virtue of record look 2nd best..Indy looks beatable, Saints unstoppable!!

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