Gendarme

Gendarme /.ZHän-darm./ (from French) is an armed policemen often found to be like a militia, located mostly in France or French-speaking countries. The name comes from the French title of "homme d'armes" (Man-at-arms), which was later made plural into "gens d'armes" (Men-at-arms). 

From its earliest appearances in Medieval culture, the Gendarmes or Gendarme have been unlike police in the United States and similar countries. They are members of the Military, not civil servants; in other words, they are Military-Police. 

Gendarme is a singular form of gens d'armes, which means "men-at-arms" in Old French.  The phrase, which was used from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern era, described a noble-born, fully armored cavalryman who served mostly in the French army.  Only until the French Revolution, when the Ancien Régime's Maréchaussée was renamed the Gendarmerie, did the word imply police.

References

Category:Law enforcement agencies
Category:Police