I always wondered about the etymology of the word “Infantry”.
Seemed kinda weird to have babies in the Army, but I kinda always laughed at it a little, figures it was a bit of an internal joke because armies are always bitching and whining (which they have excellent reasons to do).
So this morning I finally looked it up:
infantry (n.)
1570s, from French infantrie, infanterie (16c.), from older Italian or Spanish infanteria "foot soldiers, force composed of those too inexperienced or low in rank to be cavalry," a collective noun from infante "foot soldier," originally "a youth," from Latin infantem (see
infant). Meaning
"infants collectively" is recorded from 1610s. A Middle English (c. 1200) word for "foot-soldiers" was going-folc, literally "going-folk."
And HOLY SHIT, it DOES mean “A bunch of babies”.