Stalwart

[mcgillianaire]

Late 14th-century, Scottish variant of Old English stælwierðe "good, serviceable," probably a contracted compound of staðol "foundation, support" (from Proto-Germanic *stathlaz) + wierðe "good, excellent, worthy" (see worth). Another theory traces the first element of stælwierðe to Old English stæl "place," from Proto-Germanic *stælaz. In U.S. political history, applied 1877 by Blaine to Republicans who refused to give up their hostility to and distrust of the South.