milice French · revision 15898

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1578, Brantôme|origins=la mīles}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mi.lis/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''milice''' ''f'' (plural milices)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Milicie'' (1371–1372, Oresme), ''militie'' in the 16th century.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|mīlitia|t=military service; campaign]], from [[m|la|mīles|t=soldier]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|6/2, 82b) a word of unknown origin, perhaps borrowed from Etruscan.^(DHLF 1992) In Church Latin “militia” was also applied to the heavenly host, the angels.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) “Milice” replaced the earlier learned form “milicie”, used by Oresme in 1371 for “military organisation”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Compare [[militaire]] and [[militer]], of the same origin.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Brantôme's ''Discours sur les duels'' (about 1578) uses it for the handling of arms.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Cotgrave (1611) has it for the art of war and in ''celestielle milice'', the angels;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) in 1617 it meant a body of troops, an army, now only in the literary style.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) From 1636 it named the troops of citizens raised in the communes to support the regular army, which had existed since at least the 14th century, and, from the late 17th century the levies of peasants and townsmen.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ In the 19th century it was used of citizen soldiers in countries without a standing army (1874), and in 1937 Malraux used it of the militias of the Spanish Civil War.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) After the Italian ''milizia'' of Mussolini (1922), ''la Milice'' was the paramilitary force created by Vichy on 3 January 1943;^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) the word is also used of unofficial groups providing security for a movement or employers.^(DHLF 1992) In Belgium ''milice'' meant military service, and in Switzerland ''de milice'' means “formed of non-professionals”.^(DHLF 1992) The derivative ''milicien'' dates from 1725.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1371 – ''Milicie'' in Oresme.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1578 – ''Milice'' “handling of arms”, in Brantôme.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – “Art of war”, ''celestielle milice'', in Cotgrave.^(TLFi)

+ * 1617 – “Army”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – A citizen militia.^(TLFi)

+ * 1725 – ''Milicien''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1937 – The militias of the Spanish Civil War, in Malraux.^(TLFi)

+ * 1943 – The Vichy ''Milice''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|militia]]: a force of citizens raised to support or replace a regular army: ''milices populaires''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A paramilitary force, ''(history)'' ''la Milice'': the Vichy militia (1943–1944).^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(history)'' Town or provincial levies: ''milices communales'', ''milices bourgeoises''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(Belgium, dated)'' Military service.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' The art of war; an army, ''la milice céleste'': the heavenly host.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[milicien]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[militaire]]

+ * [[militer]]

+ * [[la|mīles]]

+ * [[en|militia]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}