Online Etymology Dictionary

Valerie: fem. proper name, French, from Latin fem. of Valerius, name of a Roman gens, from valere "to be strong" (see valiant).
valet (n.): "personal man-servant," mid-14c., from Old French valet, variant of vaslet "man's servant," originally "squire, young man," from Gallo-Romance *vassellittus "young nobleman, squire, page," diminutive of Medieval Latin vassallus, from vassus "servant" (see vassal). Modern sense is usually short for valet de chambre; the general sense of "male household servant of the meaner sort" going with the variant form varlet. First recorded use of valet parking is from 1960.
valetudinarian (n.): "one who is constantly concerned with his own ailments," 1703, from valetudinary (1580s), from Latin valetudinarius, from valetudo "state of health," from valere "be strong" (see valiant) + -tudo, abstract noun suffix (see -tude). Valetudinary (adj.) "sickly" is recorded from 1580s.
valgus (adj.): Latin, literally "bandy-legged."
Valhalla (n.): heavenly hall in which Odin receives the souls of heroes slain in battle, 1768, from Old Norse Valhöll "hall of the battle-slain;" first element from valr "those slain in battle," from Proto-Germanic *walaz (cf. Old English wæl "slaughter, bodies of the slain," Old High German wal "battlefield, slaughter"), from PIE root *wele- "to strike, wound" (cf. Avestan vareta- "seized, prisoner," Latin veles "ghosts of the dead," Old Irish fuil "blood," Welsh gwel "wound"). Second element is from höll "hall," from PIE root *kel- "to conceal" (see cell). Reintroduced by 18c. antiquaries. Figurative sense is from 1845.
valiance (n.): mid-15c., from Anglo-French valiance (c.1300) or Old French valliance, from Old French valiant (see valiant).
valiant (adj.): early 14c. (late 12c. in surnames), from Anglo-French and Old French valliant "stalwart, brave," from present participle of valoir "be worthy," originally "be strong," from Latin valere "be strong, be well, be worth, have power, be able," from PIE root *wal- "be strong" (cf. Old English wealdan "to rule," Old High German -walt, -wald "power" (in personal names), Old Norse valdr "ruler," Old Church Slavonic vlasti "to rule over," Lithuanian valdyti "to have power," Celtic *walos- "ruler," Old Irish flaith "dominion," Welsh gallu "to be able"). Related: Valiantly.
valid (adj.): 1570s, "having force in law, legally binding," from Middle French valide, from Latin validus "strong, effective," from valere "be strong" (see valiant). The meaning "supported by facts or authority" is first recorded 1640s.
validate (v.): 1640s, from Latin validatus, from validus (see valid). Related: Validated; validating.
validation (n.): 1650s, noun of action from validate.
validity (n.): 1550s, from Middle French validité, from Latin validitatem (nominative validitas) "strength," from validus (see valid).
valise (n.): 1610s, "suitcase, soldier's kit bag," from French valise (1560s), from Italian valigia, of uncertain origin. Attested in Medieval Latin forms valisia (early 15c.), valixia (late 13c.).
Valium (n.): 1961, proprietary name (Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., Nutley, N.J.) of diazepam (reg. U.S.), of unknown origin.
Valkyrie (n.): 1768, one of 12 war-maidens who escorted the brave dead to Valhalla, from Old Norse valkyrja, literally "chooser of the slain," from valr "those slain in battle" (see Valhalla) + kyrja "chooser," from ablaut root of kjosa "to choose," from Proto-Germanic *keusan, from PIE *geus- "to taste, choose" (see gusto). Old English form was Wælcyrie, but they seem not to have figured as largely in Anglo-Saxon tales as in Scandinavian. German Walküre (Wagner) is from Norse.
valley (n.): late 13c., from Anglo-Norman valey, Old French valee "a valley," from Vulgar Latin *vallata, from Latin vallis "valley," of unknown origin. Valley Girl (in reference to San Fernando Valley of California) was popularized 1982 in song by Frank Zappa and his daughter. Valley of Death was anglicized in Middle English as Helldale (mid-13c.).
valor (n.): c.1300, "value, worth," from Old French valour "strength, value, valor," from Late Latin valorem (nominative valor) "value, worth," from stem of Latin valere "be worth, be strong" (see valiant). The meaning "courage" is first recorded 1580s, from Italian valore, from the same Late Latin word. (The Middle English word also had a sense of "worth or worthiness in respect of manly qualities").
valorization (n.): 1907, from valor "value" (late 15c.), variant of valour (see valor).
valorize (v.): 1921, from valor (see valorization) + -ize.
valorous (adj.): late 15c., from Old French valeureux, from valeur (see valor). Related: Valorously.
valour (n.): chiefly British English spelling of valor (q.v.); for spelling, see -or.
valuable (adj.): 1580s, from value (v.) + -able. As a noun, "a valuable thing," from 1775 (in modern use often in plural).
valuables (n.): see valuable.
valuation (n.): 1520s, from Old French valuacion, noun of action from valuer (see value).
value (n.): c.1300, from Old French value "worth, value" (13c.), noun use of fem. past participle of valoir "be worth," from Latin valere "be strong, be well, be of value" (see valiant). The meaning "social principle" is attested from 1918, supposedly borrowed from the language of painting. Value judgment (1892) is a loan-translation of German Werturteil.
value (v.): mid-15c., probably from value (n.). Related: Valued, valuing.
values (n.): "principles, standards," 1921, from plural of value (n.).
valve (n.): late 14c., "one of the halves of a folding door," from Latin valva "section of a folding or revolving door," literally "that which turns," related to volvere "to roll" (see vulva). Sense extended 1610s to "membranous fold regulating flow of bodily fluids;" 1650s to "mechanical device that works like a valve;" and 1660s in zoology to "halves of a hinged shell."
vamoose (v.): "to decamp," 1834, from Spanish vamos "let us go," from Latin vadamus, from vadere "to go, to walk," from PIE root *wadh- "to go" (cf. Old English wadan "to go," Latin vadum "ford;" see wade (v.)).
vamp (v.): "extemporize on a piano," 1789, originally a noun meaning "part of a stocking that covers the foot and ankle" (early 13c.), from Anglo-Norm. *vaumpé, from Old French avantpié, from avant "in front" + pié "foot." Sense evolved to "provide a stocking with a new vamp" (1590s), to "patch up, repair" (cf. revamp) to "extemporize." Related: Vamped; vamping.
vamp (n.): "seductive woman," 1911, short for vampire. First attested use is earlier than the release of the Fox film "A Fool There Was" (January 1915), with sultry Theda Bara in the role of The Vampire. But the movie was based on a play of that name that had been a Broadway hit (title and concept from a Kipling poem, "The Vampire"), and the word may ultimately trace to Bara's role. At any rate, Bara (real name Theodosia Goodman) remains the classic vamp.
A fool there was and he made his prayer
(Even as you and I!)
To a rag and a bone and a hank of hair
(We called her the woman who did not care)
But the fool, he called her his lady fair
(Even as you and I.)

[Kipling, "The Vampire"]
vampire (n.): 1734, from French vampire or German Vampir (1732, in an account of Hungarian vampires), from Hung. vampir, from Old Church Slavonic opiri (cf. Serb. vampir, Bulg. vapir, Ukrainian uper), said by Slavic linguist Franc Miklošič to be ultimtely from Kazan Tatar ubyr "witch," but Max Vasmer, an expert in this linguistic area, finds that phonetically doubtful. An Eastern European creature popularized in English by late 19c. gothic novels, however there are scattered English accounts of night-walking, blood-gorged, plague-spreading undead corpses from as far back as 1196. Applied 1774 by French biologist Buffon to a species of South American blood-sucking bat.
van (n.1): "front part of an army or other advancing group," c.1600, shortening of vanguard.
van (n.2): "covered truck or wagon," 1829, shortening of caravan.
Van Allen: name of radiation belts around the Earth (and certain other planets), 1939, from U.S. physicist James A. Van Allen (1914-2006), who reported them in 1958.
van de Graaff: in reference to an electrostatic charge generator, 1934, named for U.S. physicist R.J. van de Graaff (1901-1967).
vanadium (n.): rare metallic element, 1833, named 1830 by Swedish chemist Nils Gabriel Sefström (1787-1845), from Old Norse Vanadis, one of the names of the Norse beauty goddess Freyja (see Freya), perhaps because of its colorful compounds.
Vancouver: Canadian city, settled 1865, named for the island, which was named for English navigator George Vancouver (1757-1798) who sailed with Capt. Cook and surveyed the Pacific coast in this area in 1792.
vandal (n.): 1660s, "willful destroyer of what is beautiful or venerable," from Vandals, name of the Germanic tribe that sacked Rome in 455 under Genseric, from Latin Vandalus (plural Vandali), from the tribe's name for itself (Old English Wendlas), from Proto-Germanic *Wandal- "Wanderer."
There does not seem to be in the story of the capture of Rome by the Vandals any justification for the charge of willful and objectless destruction of public buildings which is implied in the word 'vandalism.' It is probable that this charge grew out of the fierce persecution which was carried on by [the Vandal king] Gaiseric and his son against the Catholic Christians, and which is the darkest stain on their characters. ["Encyclopaedia Britannica," 13th ed., 1926]
vandalism (n.): 1798, from French vandalisme, first used by Henri Grégoire, Bishop of Blois, c.1793; see vandal + -ism.
vandalize (v.): by 1797, from vandal + -ize. Related: Vandalized; vandalizing.
vandyke (n.): "short, pointed beard," 1894, from the style shown on portraits by Flemish painter Anton Van Dyck (1599-1641); earlier "a type of collar with a deep cut edge" (1755) also from a style depicted in his paintings.
vane (n.): "wind indicator," early 15c., southern England alteration (see V) of fane.
vanguard (n.): mid-15c., vaunt garde, from Middle French avant-garde, from avant "in front" (see avant) + garde "guard" (see guard (n.)). Communist revolutionary sense is recorded from 1928.
vanilla (n.): 1660s, from Spanish vainilla "vanilla plant," literally "little pod," diminutive of vaina "sheath," from Latin vagina "sheath" (see vagina). So called from the shape of the pods. European discovery 1521 by Hernando Cortes' soldiers on reconnaissance in southeastern Mexico. Meaning "conventional, of ordinary sexual preferences" is 1970s, from notion of whiteness and the common choice of vanilla ice cream.
vanillin (n.): substance prepared from fruit of the vanilla plant, 1868, from vanilla + -in (2).
vanish (v.): c.1300, from shortened form of stem of Old French esvanir "disappear," from Vulgar Latin *exvanire, from Latin evanescere "disappear, die out," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + vanescere "vanish," from vanus "empty" (see vain). Related: Vanished; vanishing. Vanishing point in perspective drawing is recorded from 1797.
vanity (n.): early 13c., "that which is vain, futile, or worthless," from Old French vanite, from Latin vanitatem (nominative vanitas) "emptiness, foolish pride," from vanus "empty, vain, idle" (see vain). Meaning "self-conceited" is attested from mid-14c. Vanity table is attested from 1936. Vanity Fair is from "Pilgrim's Progress" (1678).
vanquish (v.): early 14c., from Old French venquis (past tense), and vencus (p.p.), from veintre "defeat," from Latin vincere "defeat" (see victor). Influenced in Middle English by Middle French vainquiss-, present stem of vainquir "conquer," from Old French vainkir, alteration of veintre. Related: Vanquished; vanquishing.
vantage (n.): c.1300, "advantage, profit," from Anglo-French vantage, from Old French avantage (see advantage). Vantage point attested from 1865; a similar notion was in earlier vantage ground (1610s).
vapid (adj.): 1650s, "flat, insipid" (of drinks), from Latin vapidus "flat, insipid," literally "that has exhaled its vapor," related to vappa "stale wine," and probably to vapor "vapor." Applied from 1758 to talk and writing deemed dull and lifeless. Related: Vapidly.