Today we mark the 1897 birth anniversary of actor Charles Boyer. A popular leading man on the Paris stage of the 1920s, Boyer went to Hollywood for the silents and stayed on for sound. His rich, accented voice combined with his good looks soon earned Boyer a reputation as the prototypical suave and debonair Gallic lover of the big screen.

The adjective Gallic is applied to the French after Gaul, the ancient country now occupied by modern France and Belgium. But where does the word suave come from? That term, meaning "smoothly though often superficially gracious and sophisticated," has its origin in the Latin term for "sweet."

Although suave and debonair are sometimes used interchangeably, the adjectives are not synonymous. Suave suggests "an ability to deal with others easily and without friction," while debonair, from the French de bon aire, meaning "of good family or nature," connotes a grace, charm, or urbanity of manner or appearance.

When debonair was borrowed into English in the 13th century, it meant "gentle; courteous." Before that sense faded from currency in the 18th century, it had developed the modern meaning of debonair applied to Boyer.

It took more than one hundred years before debonair found a partner in the smooth suave. Suave had been used in late Middle English to mean "pleasing or agreeable," but those senses faded; it took until the middle of the 19th century before suave was reborn with its moden meaning.