In 1647, two years before the Commonwealth the Parliamentary Forces were alluded to as "the Army" from about this time, when a standing army was first inaugurated, the word began to acquire its modern sense until in the reign of James II it was applied to the whole of the land forces of England. A little later it was used to designate either sea or land forces, or sometimes both. Its origin is obvious from the past participle of the Latin verb armare, through the French armée and the cognate Spanish and Portuguese armada, but it was in the sense of the last mentioned word that it was first used in English, literally meaning an armada. It may not be generally recognized that the word Army did not become firmly established in its present meaning until the end of the 17th Century. Let us first deal with some general military terms. It may indeed be possible to correct a few erroneous interpretations which have crept into print, for jumping at origins is just as dangerous as jumping at conclusions. The endeavour has been to trace roughly the origin, and by that means, to explain the modern meaning of certain military words. In the following notes no attempt has been made to trace all the vagaries of each word mentioned, only a few of the most striking and interesting episodes in its career have been touched on and only a few of the foreign words connected with its history or travels have been mentioned. Notes on the Origin and Derivation of Some Military TermsĬanadian Defence Quarterly, Vol XII, No 3, April, 1935
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