Gendarmerie
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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A gendarmerie or gendarmery is, in principle, a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as "gendarmes as a body".
Modern civilian police forces may retain the title of "gendarmerie" for historic reasons.
Etymology
The word gendarme comes from the Old French gens d'armes, meaning men-at-arms. During the Late Medieval to the Early Modern period, the term referred to a heavily armoured cavalryman of noble birth, primarily serving in the French army (see Gendarme (historical)). The word gained policing connotations only after the French Revolution when the Maréchaussée of the Ancien Régime was renamed the Gendarmerie.
In the United Kingdom, there is a body called Her Majesty's Bodyguard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms. Gentlemen at Arms is nearly equivalent to the term gendarme. However, this body is purely ceremonial and is not considered a gendarmerie.
Historically, the spelling in English was gendarmery, but now the French spelling gendarmerie is more common. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) uses gendarmery as the principal spelling; Merriam-Webster uses gendarmerie as the principal spelling.
See also
- Le Rapport du gendarme (1944) by Georges Simenon
