A
soldier is a member of the land component of
national
armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a
mercenary. In most languages, "soldier" includes
commissioned and
non-commissioned officers in national land forces.
Non-English equivalents
The common Roman's origin for the words
soldier and
payment survives not only in
French as
soldat and
solde, but also in other languages, like
German Soldat and
Sold,
Spanish soldado and
sueldo,
Portuguese soldado and
soldo,
Dutch soldaat and
soldij,
Italian "soldato" and "soldo",
Arabic "جندي" (Jondi), or "مجنّد" (mojannad), or "عسكر" (askar) in the Lebanese Dialect,
Turkish asker.
In the
Russian language the word soldier is also "солдат" ("soldat"), although it is not related to the Russian word for money, but was borrowed from German use. In some languages the word
soldier is derived from different etymology. For example Estonian "sõdur" is derived from word "sõda," which means "war." And Finnish "sotilas" or "soturi", and "sota" meaning "war".
Occupational designations
In most armed forces the word soldier has been mostly abandoned, due to the increasing specialisation of military occupations that require different areas of knowledge and skill-sets. As a result, 'soldier' has been replaced by names which reflect an individual's military occupation specialty Arm, Service or Branch of military employment, their type of unit, or operational employment or technical use such as:
trooper,
tanker,
Commando,
dragoon,
infantryman,
marine,
paratrooper,
ranger,
sniper,
engineer,
sapper, or a
gunner.
right|thumbnail|300px|[[U.S. Army Soldiers in
Baghdad,
Iraq in
2007]]
Other terms
In many countries soldiers serving in specific occupations are referred to by terms other than their occupational name. For example
military police personnel in the U.K. are known as "redcaps" from the colour of their berets or other headwear.
In the
United States Army and the
United States Marine Corps, infantrymen are called "grunts", while artillerymen are sometimes referred to as "redlegs", from the branch color for
artillery. In the UK
Royal Artillery men are occasionally known as "drop shorts" due to their alleged propensity for dropping rounds short of the intended target.
French Marine Infantry are called marsouins (porpoises) because of their amphibious role. Military units in most armies have nicknames of this type, arising either from items of distinctive
uniform, some historical connotation or rivalry between branches or regiments.
For example, U.S. Marines are sometimes called jar-heads because of their "high and tight" haircuts and the way they wear their hats makes their heads look like the cap of a jar or decanter.
See also
