Where does “infantry” come from?
Infantry comes from Spanish infantería, derived from Latin infans meaning "unable to speak" or "child," from in- "not" and fans "speaking," ultimately developing to denote foot soldiers.
infantry (English): Soldiers who fight on foot (on land), as opposed to cavalry and other mounted units, regardless of external transport (e.g. airborne)
Definitions
- Soldiers who fight on foot (on land), as opposed to cavalry and other mounted units, regardless of external transport (e.g. airborne)
Ancestry of “infantry”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | infanterie | — |
| 2 | Spanish | infantería | infantry |
| 3 | Spanish | Infante | infant |
| 4 | Old Spanish | ifante | — |
| 5 | Latin | īnfāntem | — |
| 6 | Latin | īnfāns | speechless, inarticulate |
| 7 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 8 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 9 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |