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Hussar-the word, is it originally Polish?


Domino  1 | 14  
25 Jun 2009 /  #1
Hi I'm curious about the word Hussar. I've seen it Hussaria and Hussars. Is the word originally polish? Is this how it is spelt in polish? Is Hussaria and Hussars plurals? Is it feminine or masculine or neither? What would be the (prefix?) for it? (Like in french there is un, une presceding masculine and feminine nouns; any such in polish?
plk123  8 | 4119  
25 Jun 2009 /  #2
husarz in polish (singular)...

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hussar
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corsair
gumishu  15 | 6164  
25 Jun 2009 /  #3
husarz - masculine noun, plural husarze - no articles (prefixes) in Polish - most often you can guess the gender by the form of the word (in singular nominative case most feminine words end with -a, most neuter nouns with -o or -e, and most masculine with a consonant - there are exceptions though)
cinek  2 | 347  
25 Jun 2009 /  #4
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Hussars
Nathan  18 | 1349  
26 Jun 2009 /  #5
Hi I'm curious about the word Hussar. I've seen it Hussaria and Hussars. Is the word originally polish? Is this how it is spelt in polish? Is Hussaria and Hussars plurals? Is it feminine or masculine or neither? What would be the (prefix?) for it? (Like in french there is un, une presceding masculine and feminine nouns; any such in polish?

It is definately feminine. But originally it comes from Latin "hussarium" which means "chicken feathers" or more correctly "chicken wings". Roman army used this name to call weak soldiers who usually escaped battle-field during a military conflict leaving only part of their plummage which was of above-mentioned bird's origin. They still used them because when fleeing they raised the dust which was blown into the eyes of the enemy and this way helped out the outcome of the battle. After many years following Roman's empire fall due to known causes, emerging Polish state took this name to call the same type of soldiers who were scared to fight on the ground and preferred to be on the horses, thus facilitating greatly inevitable battle-field escape. Different from Roman frightened soldiers, hussars had it in the form of wings (but still made of chicken feathers, of course) in order to show their sole reliance on God and its angels' devine wings since you cannot pray with the palms of your hands touching when you flee the battle-field and hold tightly reins of the horse.
plk123  8 | 4119  
26 Jun 2009 /  #6
how did you get the feminine?

But originally it comes from Latin "hussarium" which means "chicken feathers"

did you pull that out of your butt too?
pgtx  29 | 3094  
26 Jun 2009 /  #7
But originally it comes from Latin "hussarium" which means "chicken feathers"

ajajaj...

Etymologists are divided over the derivation of the word 'hussar'. [5] Many scholars believe the word that was passed into Hungarian by way of the Croatians originates from the Latin word 'cursus' meaning 'raid'. [5] According to Webster's the word hussar stems from the Hungarian huszár, which in turn originates from the Serbian husar or gusar, meaning pirate, from the Medieval Latin cursarius (cf. the English word corsair). [6] A variant of this theory is offered by Byzantinist scholars, who argue the term originated in Roman military practice, and the cursarius--a group of fast moving horsemen used for scouting or raiding-came to be called tsanarioi in Greek or the Armenian Chosarioi.

Poland Hussar
gumishu  15 | 6164  
27 Jun 2009 /  #8
Nathan

interesting hobby - making an idiot out of yourself :)
Nathan  18 | 1349  
27 Jun 2009 /  #9
I don't know why they did it, but somehow it helped them out. On the other hand, you can't blame them, gumishu, it wasn't their hobby, it was fear.
plk123  8 | 4119  
28 Jun 2009 /  #10
he's talking about you and not some "them".

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