E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Valentine.
A corruption of galantin (a lover, a dangler), a gallant. St. Valentine was selected for the sweet-hearts’ saint because of his name. Similar changes are seen in gallant and valiant.
1
Valentine. One of the Two Gentlemen of Vero’na; his serving-man is Speed. The other gentleman is Proteus, whose serving-man is Launce. (Shakespeare: Two Gentlemen of Verona.)
2
Valentine, in Congreve’s Love for Love. Betterton’s great character.
3
Valentine (The Brave). Brother of Orson and the son of Bellisant, sister of King Pepin and wife of Alexander, Emperor of Constantinople. The twin brothers were born in a wood, near Orleans, and while their mother went in search of Orson, who had been carried off by a bear, Pepin happened to see Valentine and took him under his charge. He married Clerimond, niece of the Green Knight. (Valentine and Orson.)
