Hungarian Hussar

A Hussar (/həˈzɑːr/ hə-ZAR, /hʊˈzɑːr/) was a member of any one of several types of light cavalry used during the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning in Central Europe.

Historically, the term derives from the cavalry of late medieval Hungary, under Matthias Corvinus. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry regiments in European and European colonial armies in the late 17th and 18th centuries. A number of armored or ceremonial mounted units in modern armies retain the designation of hussars.

The first written mention of the word "Hussarones" (in Latin, plural; in Hungarian: Huszár) has been found in documents dating from 1432 in Southern Hungary (at the time the Ottoman military frontiers of the Hungarian Kingdom). A type of irregular light horsemen was already well-established by the 15th century in medieval Hungary. Etymologists are divided over the derivation of the word 'hussar'.

Byzantinist scholars argue that the term originated in Roman military practice, and the cursarii (singular cursarius). 10th-century Byzantine military manuals mention chonsarioi, light cavalry, recruited in the Balkans, especially Serbs, "ideal for scouting and raiding". This word was subsequently reintroduced to Western European military practice after its original usage had been lost with the collapse of Rome in the west.

According to Webster's Dictionary, the word hussar stems from the Hungarian huszár, which in turn originates from the Serbian хусар (husar, or гусар, gusar), meaning brigand (because early hussars' shock troops tactics used against the Ottoman army resembled that of brigands; in modern Serbian the meaning of gusar is limited to sea pirate), from the Medieval Latin cursarius (cf. the English word corsair). On the other hand, 'húsz' means twenty in Hungarian whilst 'ár' is a unit of land measurement or acre. Hussars are so named as they were a form of military levy whereby any land owner with twenty acres was duty bound to provide a mounted and equipped soldier to the king's army at his own expense. The elaborate uniforms were based on traditional Magyar horseman's clothes with highly braided, tight riding breeches, close fitting pointed boots and a sash around the waist.

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