The origins and meanings of 15 common military terms
Did you know that ‘host’ and ‘hostile’ have the same derivation? Check out how such terms as ‘corps,’ ‘platoon,’ ‘detail’ and ‘echelon’ came into being—and infiltrated the vernacular.
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English includes words that, originating in the vocabulary of warfare, have been applied to competitive contexts such as sports and business; others that did not originate in that realm are associated with both the military and other endeavors.
Here’s a list of terms pertaining to military units and formations that also have other, sometimes derivative, usages:
1. Army. Derived from medieval Latin armata (“army”)—also the source of the Spanish term armada, meaning “war fleet”—referring to a nation’s entire body of land forces or to one major unit of that body.
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