c.1225, from O.Fr.
coart, from
coe "tail," from L.
coda, dialectal variant of
cauda "tail," of uncertain origin +
-ard, an agent noun suffix (denoting "one who does"). The word probably reflects an animal metaphoric sense still found in expressions like
turning tail and
tail between legs. Coart was the name of the hare in O.Fr. versions of
"Reynard the Fox." As a surname (attested from 1255) it represents O.E.
cuhyrde "cow-herd."
"Cowardice, as distinguished from panic, is almost always simply a lack of ability to suspend the functioning of the imagination." [Ernest Hemingway, "Men at War," 1942]
An O.E. word for "cowardly" was
earg, which also meant "slothful."
[kou-erd] 
ərd