Where does the phrase "He got cold feet" come from and what does it mean?

Why this term was coined isn't at all clear. On the face of it there doesn't seem to be any obvious connection with the literal meaning of cold feet and the meaning of the phrase.

www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cold-feet.html

The wartime usage of "cold feet" has led some to claim that the phrase originally referred to soldiers whose frost-bitten toes prevented them from entering a battle.

http://www.slate.com/id/2117944/

Just a suggestion for someone to check out (Baloo is just whizzing through...): Hotfoot is used for someone keen to get somewhere - perhaps cold feet are the opposite. I would doubt the frozen toes one - there's an implication of cowardice in cold feet that isn't there in frostbite.

Several possible origins have been suggested. One is German, recorded in several books from the late 19th century, whence it entered popular language and the term 'cold-footer' was used to refer to those who did not want to fight in WWI. Another is earlier - Ben Jonson uses the phrase 'cold on my feet' in "Volpone" (1605) which has been explained as referring to a Lombard proverb meaning 'to have no money'. (This figurative use of the phrase, however, disappeared from Italian between the 1600s and the 1800s.)

http://www.slate.com/id/2117944/