Chapter XXIX: Appendix: A

ORIGIN OF MILITARY TERMS

This chapter is intended to give an explanation of the way in which military terms--especially those connected with Organization--came to have their present technical meaning. Their derivation and, in some cases, the date of their introduction are given. Many of these terms have been noticed in the body of the text, and their origin mentioned. They are here collected for facility of reference.

It will be noted that most of our commonest military terms are of considerable antiquity, and that they are essentially cosmopolitan words, widespread in use through Western Europe. Most of them were introduced in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The terms are arranged alphabetically in four lists:

1. Ranks and Offices.

2. Names of the different varieties of Troops, and of their Units and Formations.

3. Arms and Accoutrements.

4. Miscellaneous.

1. RANKS AND OFFICES

Adjutant: French _adjudant_; Latin _adjutant-em_--_adjutare_, to
assist. An assistant. An office introduced in the English Army
in 1660.

Bombardier: from _bombard_, old name of a cannon (_bombo et
ardore_, with noise and heat); Latin _bombus_, a humming
noise--_ardor_, heat.

Captain: French _capitaine_; Late Latin _capitan-us_--_caput_,
head. A chief.

Captain-General: name of Commander-in-Chief till Marlborough’s
time. Probably taken from the Spanish _Capitan-General_.

Colonel: French _colonnel_; Italian _colonello_, a little column;
Latin _columna_. Column-leader.

Cornet: French _cornette_, a hornshaped flag for Cavalry; Latin
_cornu_, a horn.

Corporal: Old French _corporal_ (16th cent.); Latin _corporalis_,
belonging to the body, _corpus_; or, by confusion with
_corporalis_, from French _caporal_; Italian _capo di squadra_
or squad-leader, from Latin _caput_, head.

General: _i.e._ general officer, or officer with general command
over all troops, and not over those of his own Arm only.

Généralissime: the Supreme Commander of Armies. A term adopted by
Richelieu, and used in France to-day.

Lance-Sergeant (or Lance-Corporal): from _lanz pesado_ or
dismounted lance, superior to the ordinary infantry with whom
he had perforce to march on foot after losing his horse.

Lieutenant: French _lieu-tenant_; Latin _locum tenens_. A deputy,
of the Captain, the Colonel, or the General.

Major: originally Sergeant-Major (17th cent.).

Major-General: originally Sergeant-Major-General (17th cent.).

Marshal: a farrier. Old French _mareschal_; Low Latin
_mariscalcus_; Teutonic _maraschalk_, from _mara_, a
battle-horse, and _skalk_, a servant.

Officer: French _officier_; Late Latin _officiar-ius_--_officium_.
An office-holder.

Private: _i.e._ a _private_ man, not an officer (used from 16th
cent.).

Quarter-Master: a _quarter_, _i.e._ one-fourth of a locality,
came to mean generally a _district_, and then a _lodging_ for
soldiers assigned to that district.

Rank: French _rang_; Old German _hrang_, a ring, and later a row,
of men.

Sapper: French _sapeur_--_saper_, to dig; Italian _zappa_, a
mattock.

Sergeant: Old French _serjent_, _servjent_, or _servient_; Latin
_servient-em_--_servire_, to serve.

Sergeants-at-Arms (_Servientes ad Arma_) were instituted by Richard
I. during his Syrian campaign as his personal guard.

Soldier: Old French _soldier_; Latin
_soldarius_--_solidarius_--_sold-us_, pay--_solidus_, a solid
piece.

Staff: what the General leans on--a stick; from Aryan root _sta_ =
stand.

Trumpeter: French _trompeteur_. [See Trumpet.]

Yeomen of the Guard: Personal Guard of Henry VII. The first regular
military organization in England (1485).

2. VARIETIES OF TROOPS, AND THEIR UNITS AND FORMATIONS

Ambulance: French _ambulance_, movable hospital; Latin _ambulare_,
to go--_ambi_, around, and root _ba_, go, as in Greek _bainein_.

Army: French _armée_; Latin _armata_, past participle of _armare_,
to arm, an armed force.

Army Corps: German _Armee-Korps_, from French _Corps
d’Armée_--_Corps_ from _corpus_, body.

Artillery: French _artillerie_; Italian _artilleria_, the art of
the _artillarius_, or _articularius_, from _articula_, dim. of
_art-em_. Used for _guns_ 16th cent.; for the _Arm_ 18th cent.
[See Chap. XVII., par. 1.]

Battalion: French; Italian _battaglione_--_battaglia_ (16th cent.).
[See Battle.]

Battery: French _batterie_--_battre_; Late Latin _battere_, beat;
Latin _batu-ere_.

Brigade: French (16th cent.); Spanish _brigade_--_brigar_, to
brawl; Italian _briga_, a quarrel. Hence a body of contesting
troops.

Carbineers: Cavalry armed with the _carabine_. Old French
_calabrin_--_calabre_, war engine, from Low Latin _chatabula_;
Greek _kataball-ein_, throw down.

Cavalry: French _cavallerie_ (16th cent.); Italian _cavalleria_;
Late Latin _caballarius_--_caballus_, a nag.

Column: Latin _columna_, a column, from _columen_--_culmen_,
height--cf. _collis_, hill.

Command: Old French _commander_, to order; Latin _commendare_,
to entrust to one’s charge--later, to order; from _cum_ and
_mandare_, to order.

Commissariat: from commissary, a person entrusted; Latin
_com-mittere_, to commit to.

Company: Old French _compainie_; Late Latin _companio_--_cum pane_,
with bread, _i.e._ a messmate.

Cuirassiers: French _cuirasse_ (15th cent.), from _cuir_; Latin
_corium_, leather.

Dragoons: from carrying a short musket called a dragon. Italian
_dragone_; Latin _draco-n-em_, a dragon.

Echelon: French _échelon_--_échelle_, ladder; Latin _scala_,
step--_scando_, climb.

Engineer (16th cent.): _engynour_ (16th cent.), earlier
_engigneor_; Old French _engineur_; Late Latin _ingeniator_
(used in 12th cent.), from _ingeniare_, from _ingenium_, whence
Engine. [See Chap. XVII., par. 1.]

File: number of men in depth (1598); a row, from French _file_;
Latin _fila_, a thread.

Fusiliers: men armed with the fusil, a firelock (17th cent.). Latin
_focile_, a flint, from _focus_, a hearth-fire.

Gentlemen-at-Arms: originally a band of Horse, created 1509;
subsequently Court Officers.

Grenadiers (late 17th. cent.): men armed with the grenade, invented
1594. Spanish _grenada_, pome-granate, the fruit full of seeds,
from Latin _granum_, grain.

Guards: soldiers who guard the Sovereign. Guard, French _garde_,
is the Teutonic _ward_, from _war_, to defend, connected with
_ware_ and _wary_.

Hussars: Hungarian _Huszar_, from _Husz_, twenty. Every twentieth
man served in the Light Cavalry on the Turkish frontier.

Infantry: French _infanterie_; Italian _infanteria_; Latin
_infant-em_, child (16th cent.), _i.e._ one who cannot
speak--_in_, not, _fari_, speak.

Lancers: men armed with the lance. French _lance_; Latin _lancea_;
Greek _lonche_.

Line: French _ligne_; Latin _linea_, a line or string--_linum_,
flax.

Musketeers: men armed with the Musket, which see.

Ordnance Corps: the R.A. and R.E., which were controlled by the
Master-General of the Ordnance, an officer created as early as
1414.

Patrol (late 17th cent.) French _patrouille_:
(1539)--_patrouiller_, to paddle in mud--Old French _patoueil_,
mud.

Platoon: French _peloton_, a little ball--_pelote_, a small bundle;
Latin _pila_, a ball.

Rear: Old French _riere_, behind; Latin _retro_, back.

Regiment: French _régiment_, rule; Latin _regiment-um_--_regere_,
rule.

Rifles: a body of soldiers armed with rifles. Rifle is short for
rifled gun; to rifle means to groove--_rive_, to tear.

Squad: French _escouade_; Italian _squadra_, a square; Latin
_ex-quadra-re_, to square, from _quatuor_, four.

Squadron: from Italian _squadrone_, a large square. [See Squad.]

Train: French _train_; Old French _trahiner_, to trail; Low Latin
_trahin-are_, from _trah-ere_, to draw.

Troop: French _troupe_, connected with root of _drive_, German
_treiben_, a drove; Italian _truppa_, by some connected with
Latin _turba_, a crowd, by a not uncommon process of bringing
the “r” before the vowel [cf. _brent_, burnt].

Vanguard: shortened to van; Old French _avant garde_--_avant_ is
Latin _ab-ante_, from in front. [See Guard.]

3. ARMS AND ACCOUTREMENTS

Accoutrements: French _accoutrement_; _accoutre_--_ad_, to, and
_coutre_, from Latin _custos_, keeper.

Ammunition: store for defence. Latin _ad-munition-em_--_munire_,
fortify, defend.

Arms: French _armes_; Latin _arma_.

Arsenal: _arx navalis_, naval citadel, or from an Arabic word.

Ball: French _balle_; Old German _bal_, from a Teutonic root found
in _bulge_, bole.

Bayonet: French _baïonnette_, from Bayonne, where first made.

Belt: Anglo-Saxon _belt_; Irish _balt_--from which Latin _balteus_,
a belt, probably derived.

Bullet: French _boulet_, a little ball--_boule_, a ball; Latin
_bulla_, a knob.

Cannon: _i.e._ the gun-barrel; Latin _canna_, a hollow cane.

Carbine: see Carbineers.

Carriage: Old French _charrier_, or _carier_, to carry. [See Cart.]

Cart: dim. of _car_; French _charette_; Old French _carete_; Low
Latin _careta_--_carrus_, a car.

Cartridge: corruption of _cartrage_; French _cartouche_, a charge
wrapped up in a cornet of paper; Latin _carta_, paper.

Cuirass: see Cuirassiers.

Equip: Old French _esquiper_, to equip; Norse _skipa_, to arrange,
shape.

Gun: Old English _gonne_; Welsh _gwn_; Gaelic _gunna_. Derivation
unknown, perhaps from Old French _mangonel_; dim. of Latin
_mangonum_, Greek _mangonon_, a war machine.

Halberd or Halbard: a long-handled weapon; _helve_ or handle;
_barde_, axe.

Haversack (used in 18th cent.): from German _haver-sack_, sack for
oats.

Helmet: Anglo-Saxon _helm_; Teutonic root _hal_ or _kal_, to cover.

Howitzer: German _hautbitze_ (so written by Gen. Wolfe about 1750),
older _hauffnitz_, from _haufnice_, a sling. A Czech word of
time of the Hussites (15th cent.).

Magazine: storehouse. Spanish _magacen_; Arabic _makhzan_,
storehouse.

Matross: old word for a gunner. German _matrose_; Latin _matarius_,
a man who uses a mat or hammock.

Mortar: called from resemblance to apothecary’s mortar. Old French
_mortier_; Latin _mortarium_, from _martulus_, a hammer.

Musket: French _musquet_, from the Spanish, meaning a sparrow-hawk,
probably from Latin _musca_, fly, as being the smallest of
hawks. First used for the firearm, 16th cent.

Ordnance = Artillery, from the _ordinance_ to regulate calibre and
size of guns (15th cent.).

Pistol: from the city of Pistoia in Italy, where made (early 16th
cent.).

Pontoon: French _ponton_; Italian _pontone_, a great bridge; Latin
_pont-em_, bridge.

Pouch: Old French _pouche_--_poche_, pocket; Celtic _poca_, a bag.

Shell: Anglo-Saxon _scell_, a thin covering; Teutonic root _skal_,
to separate, peel off; a hollow ball.

Shrapnel: a shell with balls inside, invented by General Shrapnel,
British Army (early 19th cent.).

4. MISCELLANEOUS

Base: area on which army relies for supplies and reinforcements.
Formed from analogy with the base of a triangle, by the German
military writer, Willisen, 1820. Greek _basis_--_bai-no_, go.

Battle: French _bataille_; Italian _bataglia_; Late Latin
_battalia_, _batt-ere_, from Latin _batu-ere_, to beat.

Billet: French _billet_, a ticket for quarters; hence the quarters
themselves.

Bivouac: German _bewachen_, to watch.

Bugle; short for bugle-horn, the horn of the bugle or wild ox. Old
French _bugle_; Latin _buculus_, dim. of _bos_, ox, a bullock.

Camp: French _camp_; Latin _campus_, field.

Colours: first use temp. Elizabeth for military flags, because of
their gay colours. French _couleur_; Latin _color_.

Communications (used by military writers in 19th cent.): Latin
_communicare_, _communis_, common.

Condottieri: Italian mercenaries. Latin _conductitii_, led men.

Crew: or detachment working a gun, from French _crue_, from
_croître_, to grow.

Drum: from Teutonic _trom_.

Fife: Old German _pfifa_, a pipe.

Logistics: French _logistique_; what are now called Staff duties,
from _logis_, quarters, _i.e._ the Q.M.G.’s duties.

Order: French _ordre_; Latin _ordin-em_.

Parade: Spanish _parada_, ready, or adorned, from _parar_, to get
ready, to adorn, also to parry; Latin _parare_, to prepare.
Brought from the Netherlands to England in 1625.

Reconnoitre: French, to make oneself acquainted with--_connaître_;
Latin _cognoscere_, know.

Strategy: Greek _strategos_, a general--_stratos_, army--_ago_,
lead. The art of the General.

Tactics: Greek _taktike_ (_techne_), _tasso_, arrange. The tactical
art, or art of drawing up soldiers for battle.

Trumpet: French _trompette_, dim. of _trompe_; Spanish _trompa_,
perhaps from Latin _tuba_.

War: Teutonic _werre_, strife, connected with _worse_, and German
_wirren_, confuse.