CHIVALRY: 1: mounted men-at-arms 2: the system of practices of knighthood 3: the spirit or character of the ideal knight
In the days of old when kinghts were bold, speakers of Anglo-French used the word chevalerie as a collective term for knights on horseback. By the 14th century, English-speakers had adopted the slightly modified spelling "chivalrie" to name their own well-armored, mounted warriors. If you trace the history of "chivalry" (as "chivalrie" came to be spelled) back to Late Latin, you'll find that its ancestor, caballarius, gave us yet another term for a daring medieval horseman: "cavalier." And what is the ultimate root of these words? It's Latin caballus, meaning "horse."
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