Cicisbeo
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In 18th- and 19th-century Venice, the cicisbeo (plural: cicisbei), or Cavalier Servente, was the professed gallant and lover of a married woman, who attended her at public entertainments, to church and other occasions and had privileged access to his mistress. The arrangement is comparable to the Spanish cortejo and, to a lesser degree, to the French petit-maître. The exact etymology of the word is unknown, some evidence suggests it originally meant "in a whisper" (perhaps an onomatopeic word), some suggests it is an inversion of bel cece, "beautiful chick (pea)". According to OED, the first recorded usage of the term in English is found in a letter by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu dated 1718.
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