'Deference' is Latin for 'carrying oneself down' — from 'ferre' (to bear). A bow in word form.
Polite respect and submission to the judgment or authority of another.
From French 'déférence' (submission, respect), from 'déférer' (to yield to, to refer to a higher authority), from Latin 'deferre' (to carry down, to bring down, to hand over, to report), composed of 'de-' (down, away from) + 'ferre' (to carry, bear), from PIE *bher- (to carry, bear), one of the most productive roots in Indo-European. *Bher- generated an enormous family: Latin 'ferre' and 'fortis', Sanskrit 'bhárati' (he carries), Greek 'phérein' (to carry), Old English 'beran' (to bear, carry — ancestor of 'bear'), Gothic 'bairan', and many Germanic derivatives. 'Deferre' in classical Latin had a legal sense of bringing a charge or referring a case to a magistrate