Mīles, mīlitis, (m.) – soldier
According to the online Lewis & Short dictionary, mīles means a soldier. In terms of the frequency, it is the 162nd most popular word. In literature, this word is used to describe a gathering, formation, and dismissal of an army. It appears in Curtis Rufus, Quintus, Julius Caesar, Livy, Tacitus, and Caesar Augustus, to name a few. Furthermore, in a transferred sense, the word is also used as a court-official or an “armed servant of an emperor” as well as a chessman or pawn in chess. It was interesting that mīles, if feminine, also can mean a woman giving a birth to a child for the first time.
The Etymological Dictionary of Latin refers to mīles as a “common foot-soldier.” Semantically, it explains one of the possible origins of the word as pedes, which means pedestrian and eques, which means rider. However, the dictionary acknowledges that the origin of the first part of the word mīl is still unknown. It suggests that mīl might be related to mīlia (thousands).
Quotation 1: Civil War (Book I, Chapter 44, Section 2) by Julius Caesar
“dispersique pugnarent, si premerentur, pedem referre et loco excedere non turpe existimarent, cum Lusitanis reliquisque barbaris genere quodam pugnae assuefacti; quod fere fit, quibus quisque in locis miles inveteraverit, ut multum earumregionum consuetudine moveatur. haec tum ratio nostros perturbavit insuetos huius generis pugnae; circumiri enim sese ab aperto latere procurrentibus singulis arbitrabantur; ipsi autem”
Quotation 2: ab Urbe Condita (Book I, chapter 14, section 7) by Livy
“excitus Romulus—neque enim dilationem pati tam uicinum bellum poterat—exercitum educit, castra a Fidenis mille passuum locat. ibi modico praesidio relicto, egressus omnibus copiis partem militum locis circa densa obsita uirgultaobscuris subsidere in insidiis iussit: cum parte maiore atque omni equitatu profectus, id quod quaerebat, tumultuoso et minaci genere pugnae adequitando ipsis prope”
References:
“Miles.” Logeion.uchicago.edu. Date of access 14 May. 2020, https://logeion.uchicago.edu/miles
Vaan, Michiel Arnoud Cor de. Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages. Leiden ; Brill, 2008. Print.
Latin Texts & Translations, University of Chicago, http://artflsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/search3t?dbname=LatinSept18&word=miles&OUTPUT=conc&CONJUNCT=PHRASE&DISTANCE=3&author=Caesar&title=&POLESPAN=5&THMPRTLIMIT=1&KWSS=1&KWSSPRLIM=500&trsortorder=author,+title&editor=&pubdate=&language=&shrtcite=&genre=&sortorder=author,+title&dgdivhead=&dgdivtype=&dgsubdivwho=&dgsubdivn=&dgsubdivtag=&dgsubdivtype=
Latin Texts & Translations, University of Chicago, http://artflsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/perseus/search3t?dbname=LatinSept18&word=lemma:miles&OUTPUT=conc&author=Livy
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