'Recreant' meant giving back your faith — from Latin 'credere' (to believe). Surrender as un-believing.
A person who is cowardly or disloyal; cowardly; unfaithful to a duty or belief.
From Old French 'recreant' (defeated, cowardly, yielding), present participle of 'recroire/recreire' (to yield, to give up, to surrender one's faith in combat), from 're-' (back) + 'croire/creire' (to believe), from Latin 'crēdere' (to believe), from PIE *ḱred-dheh₁- (to place one's heart). A recreant was someone who gave back their faith — who surrendered belief, whether in battle (yielding to the enemy) or in principle (abandoning a cause). Key roots: re- (Latin
In medieval trial by combat, a combatant who wished to surrender was required to cry 'craven!' or declare himself 'recreant' — literally stating that he was giving back his faith, yielding his belief in the righteousness of his cause. Since trial by combat was predicated on the idea that God would grant victory to the party in the right, declaring oneself recreant was admitting that one's cause lacked