VALET

'Valet' and 'Varlet' are terms for male servants.

Contents

Etymology

Domestic valet

Famous fictional valets

Other valets

Objects

Clothes valet

Varlet

Sources

See also

External links

Etymology

In English, valet "personal man-servant" is recorded since 1567, derived from the French ''valet'' (the t being silent), an Old French variant of ''vaslet'' "man's servant," originally "squire, young man," assumed to be from Gallo-Romance
★ ''vassellittus'' "young nobleman, squire, page," diminutive of Medieval Latin ''vassallus'', from ''vassus'' "servant", itself from an Old Celtic root ''wasso-'' "young man, squire" (cognate of Welsh ''gwas'' "youth, servant," Breton ''goaz'' "servant, vassal, man," Irish ''foss'' "servant"). See yeoman possibly derived from yonge man.
The modern use is usually short for the ''valet de chambre'' (French for 'chamber valet') described in the following section. In American English, the word is nowadays generally pronounced with a silent 't', as in French, the older pronunciation in which the 't' was pronounced (so 'valet' rhymes with 'pallet') being considered old-fashioned or even ignorant, while British pronunciation continues to prefer 'valet' rhymed with 'pallet'.

Domestic valet

A valet or 'gentleman's gentleman' is a gentleman's male servant, the closest male equivalent to a lady's maid. The valet performs personal services such as maintaining his employer's clothes, running his bath and perhaps (especially in the past) shaving his employer. In a great house the master of the house had his own valet, in the grandest the same would go for other adult members of the employing family (e.g. master's sons), at a court even minor princes and high officials may be assigned one, but in a smaller household the butler (the majordomo in charge of the household staff) might have to double as his employer's valet. In a bachelor's household the valet might perform light housekeeping duties as well. Valets, like butlers and most specialized domestic staff, have become relatively rare, and a more common — though still infrequent — arrangement is the general servant performing combined roles.
Traditionally a valet did much more than merely lay out clothes and take care of personal items. He was also responsible for making travel arrangements, dealing with any bills and handling all money matters concerning his master or his master's household.

Famous fictional valets

★ 'Jeeves', created in 1915 by P. G. Wodehouse, starred in a series of stories until Wodehouse's death in 1975; Reginald Jeeves is considered the "personification of the perfect valet" since 1930, inspired the name of Internet search engine Ask Jeeves (from 1996 to 2006, now Ask.com), and is now a generic term in dictionaries such as the Oxford English Dictionary.

★ Mervyn Bunter, created in 1923 by Dorothy L. Sayers in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, likewise a paragon of discreet competence, taking his duties beyond what was expected of a valet to help his master.

★ Giles French, from the TV series ''Family Affair'' (later functioned as the family butler).

★ Hobson (Sir John Gielgud), from the comedy film ''Arthur'' (1981).

★ Kato, valet and sidekick to Britt Reid a.k.a. The Green Hornet.

★ Kato, Inspector Clouseau's valet and martial arts partner in the ''Pink Panther'' movies.

★ Rochester Van Jones, played on radio and television by Eddie Anderson on the ''Jack Benny Show''.

★ Passepartout, in the 1872 novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' by Jules Verne.

★ George, created by Agatha Christie in the Hercule Poirot novels.

★ Edward Henry Masterman, the victim's valet and a suspect in Agatha Christie's ''Murder on the Orient Express''.

★ Figaro, the Count of Almaviva's valet from Beaumarchais' play ''The Marriage of Figaro''.

★ Spicer Lovejoy (David Warner), valet and bodyguard to Caledon Hockley in the film ''Titanic'' (1997).

★ La Fleche, Cleante's valet in ''the Miser''.

★ Saturnin, valet in the novel and movie ''Saturnin'' written by Zdeněk Jirotka.

★ Mr. Probert (Derek Jacobi), valet to Sir William McCordle (Michael Gambon), and Robert Parks (Clive Owen), valet to Lord Stockbridge (Charles Dance), in the 2001 film ''Gosford Park'', directed by Robert Altman.

★ Fonzworth Bentley, a character created by Derek Watkins as a valet to Sean "Diddy" Combs.

★ Mr. Belvedere, movie and television show starring Christopher Hewitt and Bob Ueker.

★ Baptistin, in ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' by Alexandre Dumas.

Other valets

'Valet' is also used for people performing specific services:

★ hotel valet — an employee who performs personal services for guests.

★ parking valet—a service employee who parks cars for guests, only from 1960.

★ car valet — an employee who is paid to clean people's cars professionally.

★ valet — a professional wrestling term for a person who accompanies a wrestler to the ring - originally a beefy man but now usually a busty woman.
Other forms of valet-like personnel include:

★ Batman

★ Bedder

Objects

In playing cards, "Valet" is another name for a Jack.

Clothes valet

Varlet

While in French this word remained restricted to the feudal use for a (knight's) squire, in modern English it came to be used for the various other male servants originally called va(r)let other than the gentleman's gentleman, when in livery usually called lackey, such as the ''valet de pied'' ('foot varlet', compare footman) . In archaic English, ''varlet'' also could mean an unprincipled person; a rogue.

Sources

★ EtymologyOnLine

★ ''Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustré'' (in French, 1952)

See also

★ Valet boy

★ Valet seating

★ Personal assistant

★ Radar O'Reilly

External links

★ Valet Seating Concert Tickets

★ clothes valet

★ Boat Valet UK