militia

From Latin mīlitia (“army, military force/service”), from mīles (“soldier”). Doublet of militsia.

The use of "militia" rather than "police" to refer to the police force (of Belarus and some other countries) originated in the USSR.

• IPA^(key): /məˈlɪʃə/

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• Rhymes: -ɪʃə

militia (plural militias or militiae)

1. An army of trained civilians, which may be an official reserve army, called upon in time of need, the entire able-bodied population of a state which may also be called upon, or a private force not under government control.
2. Synonym of militsia: the national police force of certain countries (e.g. Belarus).

A militia.

From mīles (“soldier”) +‎ -ia.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /miːˈli.ti.a/, [miːˈlʲɪt̪iä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /miˈlit.t͡si.a/, [miˈlit̪ː͡s̪iä]

mīlitia f (genitive mīlitiae); first declension

1. military service
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Livy, Ab Urbe Condita 26.1:

     huic generī mīlitum senātus eundem, quem Cannēnsibus, fīnem statuērat mīlitiae.

     For this class of soldier the senate had established a limit in duration to their military service, which was the same as the men at Cannae.

2. the military, army, soldiery
3. warfare, war, campaign

   domi militiaeque (also domi bellique) ― in war and peace

4. civil service, profession, employment
5. (figuratively) military spirit, courage, bravery

First-declension noun.

• “militia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “militia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• militia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• militia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to take service in the army: militiam (only in the sing.) capessere
    
  • to try to avoid military service: militiam detrectare, subterfugere
    
  • to be excused military duty: militiae vacationem habere
    
  • to retire from service: militia functum, perfunctum esse
    
• militia in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016