verve

According to the TLFI (Trésor de la Langue Française Informatisé), probably from the Christian Latin verva ('word of God' and then 'inspiration'), a derived form of verba, the plural of verbum ('word'). The Littré dictionary traces it back to verva's meaning of 'ram's head', derived from vervex ('sheep, goat'), which in turn gave rise to the word 'caprice', hence the meaning 1.