Talk:Household Cavalry

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inquiry: the entymology of "sergeant" given on this page appears incorrect; I believe (but cannot confirm) that "sergeant" derives from the equivalent Persian rank of "serjan," and has no relation to any word for "servant."

The OED (2nd ed. 1989) has:

"OF. sergent, serjant (mod.F. sergent) = Pr. serven-s, Sp. sirviente, Pg., It. servente servant:{em}L. servientem, pr. pple. of serv{imac}re SERVE v.1 The Fr. word has been adopted into other Rom. langs.: It. sergente, Sp., Pg. sargento sergeant, Sp. sergente, Pg. sargente catchpoll."

This seems to confirm the Latin derivation. The first definition given by the OED is also "A serving-man, attendant, servant. Obs." which also makes a similar point. Orangeaurochs 11:11, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

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