Honor

In the Oxford English Dictionary, the term honor means “high respect, esteem or reverence, accorded to exalted worth or rank,” but in English it has a [Page 812]wide range of meanings. Among warrior subcultures, variations of the concept of honor are common; the Greek timē, Latin honestas, German êre (ehre), Indian izzat, Norse drengskapr, and the Arabic ‘ird are just a few examples of related concepts. None is precisely equivalent, but they do seem to share certain foundations. Each is related to tangible social prestige, sometimes but not always reflected in a customary or formal legal structure that helps to define an individual’s place in society. Honor can be related to an innate right to respect, as when it describes the honor ascribed to a ...