What does the word ranger mean? For most domestic citizens, this question would be a mystery, if not for the television of the nineties. After all, it was she who introduced the audience to such American multi-series projects as Walker, Texas Ranger and Power Rangers. If the performer of the role of Walker is Chuck Norris, although he has long been retired, but still unrealistically cool, then the Power Rangers franchise in 2017 experienced another restart. While fans of this project are arguing about the pros and cons, let's find out more about the noun that all these characters proudly call themselves.
Meaning of the word “ranger” and its translation
In the original, the term in question looks like this: ranger and translates as “wanderer”, “tramp”, “forester”, “huntsman”, etc.
In Russian, Ukrainian and other Slavic languages, there is no one hundred percent analogue to it, because some of the concepts that it means are simply absent from us or have a slightly different look. In fact, in the domestic sense, the ranger profession is a cross between a forester and a district officer.
The lexical meaning of the term in the original language
In modern English, this word has several types of interpretations.
- The guardian of law and order in the countryside, as well as the huntsman in national parks and forests.
- In Texas for several centuries there has been a special unit of police officers - Texas rangers. By the way, the famous Walker is the representative of just such guardians of law and order.
- Along with the first meaning, rangers are people living or traveling in the wild. A kind of analogue of tramps. Moreover, depending on the type of terrain, they are divided into rangers of the mountain (mountains), rangers of the lands (plains).
- Among the Americans, along with the first interpretation, rangers are also military saboteurs from special squads. This type of troops is highly respected and it is far from easy to enter its composition.
There is a special 75th Ranger Regiment ranger reconnaissance regiment in the modern U.S. Army. Its members are always ready to perform tasks of any complexity. It is generally accepted that in case of alarm, each of them is able to be anywhere in the world in just eighteen hours. Each soldier of this kind takes an oath of acrostic. It consists of six paragraphs, each of which begins with one of the letters of the word RANGER.
- Among the British, rangers also refer to a specific type of guide.
Proper names
Also, this noun denotes the name of a series of unmanned American spacecraft that were used to study the moon. In total, from 1961 to 1965 nine such devices were launched.
In addition, rangers are the names of two well-known American aircraft carriers.
In addition to all of the above, a series of compact pickups with a Ford body is called the Ford Ranger. This name was given to her to emphasize the ability of such cars to travel in any terrain.
Also a football club bears such a name, and not one, but two at once. These are the Scottish Rangers Football Club from Glasgow and the Chilean Club Social de Deportes Rangers from Talc.
Term history
Having understood what the word “ranger” means, it is worth delving into its history. This noun arose in English at the end of the fourteenth century. It was formed from the verb range ("rank", "wander"). Initially, the so-called rangers.
By the end of the XVII century. this word was called not just foresters, but also those who protect the rule of law in various territories. Moreover, the rangers were not only foot, but also mounted cops.
There is a version that with the beginning of the English colonization of the lands of North America, rangers became the name of British saboteurs. For the first time, such a way of naming soldiers is mentioned during the war between the British and Indians on the territory of modern New England. In honor of the governor of these lands, such scouts were called Church rangers.
After several decades, when the British were already fighting not only with Native Americans, but also with fellow colonialists from France, a special sabotage company was created - the Rangers of Rogers.
American saboteurs officially began to be called that word during the Second World War (from 1941-1942) and to this day have retained a similar name.
The television series Walker, Texas Ranger
This term is most familiar to the domestic audience thanks to the nine seasons of the American series Walker - Texas Ranger.
From 1993 to 2001, its main character, the Vietnam War veteran Cordell Walker, heroically fought against various offenders, demonstrating his skill in martial arts.
This project had a great influence on the American film culture of the nineties. Based on it, the full-length tape Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire was shot. In addition, the series had a one-season spin-off of Sons of Thunder.
Chuck Norris, who played the main role in this project and showed the whole world what life-saving rangers should be, thanks to the series became incredibly popular. He was equated by the level of “coolness” with such cult actors of the militants of the nineties as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Sylvester Stallone.
The Power Rangers cycle
Another popularizer of the word ranger in Russian and Ukrainian is the television series about superheroes - “Power Rangers” (translation by Power Rangers).
Like the Walker project, this one also began to air since 1993. Twenty-three seasons have already come out today, with a total of 844 episodes. In the winter of 2017, a new (24th) season of the project started.
The plot focuses on six superheroes fighting against alien villains who dream of destroying the world. In different seasons, various characters became these rescuers. Despite the fact that different people could act as heroes, the black ranger always became the leader of the team.