We explain what it means to be a coward, the origin of the term and why it has been considered a defect throughout history.
What is it to be a coward?
When we speak of cowardice or accuse someone of being a coward, we generally mean a lack of courage and courage to face a difficult or challenging situation. That is to say, that a person A coward is one who abandons in difficult situations or who refuses to face the consequences of their actions. Similarly, actions carried out in a devious, treacherous way can also be classified as cowardly.
The word cowardice comes from the French couard, modern version of the word coart medieval, which refers to the tail (coue). The latter is due to the fact that dogs and wolves tuck their tails between their legs to indicate fear or submission, and because cowards, when escaping from confrontation, turn their backs (that is, "show their tails").
Since ancient times, cowardice has been considered a defect, contrary to the heroic spirit and courage with which manhood and honor are traditionally associated. Many proverbs sentence cowards to "die a thousand deaths" (compared to the only death of the brave) and in traditional iconography they are associated with scary animals such as the rabbit, or with the ostrich that plunges its head into the ground.
Even, in his literary description of hell, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) places cowards along with the faint-hearted and negligent in the "ante-hell", the chamber prior to hell, where they suffer eternally for not having known how to choose a side, neither good nor evil. These poor sinners are baptized by Dante as the Ignatius.
Today this term is more closely related to positions ethical Y moral, or even affective, than with the ancient visions of honor (which used to be resolved in duels to the death). Lovers unable to cope with the truth of their feelings, or of those who do not know how to face the conflict and prefer to leave "things as they are", being able to even resolve them in their favor.
In this way, cowardice is associated with the lack of backbone and self-love, rather than with the absence of heroism. It differs from fear in terms of a fundamental attitude: it is possible to feel fear and still face it, while the coward always prefers to flee. In other words, the coward is afraid of fear.