In history classes, studying the next war, one could often hear how brave the guardsmen were. But who are they? What is this "guard"? If the answers to the questions could not be found, then this article is just what you need.
The origin of the word "guard"
The word "guard" is a borrowing from Italian. There it was written guardia and meant a privileged part of the troops. It is noteworthy that the word "guard" is simply transliteration (transliteration, in simple terms, is a rewriting of a word with the replacement of the letters of one writing with characters by another, the new word is almost a complete copy of the original pronunciation) of the original Italian word. The first these elite army units appeared precisely in Italy (this happened in the XII century). After they appeared also in France, Sweden, England, Prussia. In Russia, and more precisely in the Russian Empire, the first guard was created under Peter I in the 90s of the XVII century.
Initially, it was the personal guard of the sovereign or major military leader. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, it consisted of four rifle, thirteen infantry and fourteen horse regiments, but in addition to them, other units were included in the guard. It is worth noting that the guard was not part of the army, representing a separate entity. In 1918, with the advent of new power, the guard was abolished. However, during the time of the Great Patriotic War, military units, associations of armed forces that distinguished themselves in battles, could be awarded the title of guard. Later, the word "guard" has an additional meaning.
Meaning of the word “guard”
So, now that the origin of the word has become clearer, we can move on to the most important thing - its meaning. Guard is the best troops.
A guardsman (a word formed directly from "guard") is a person serving in the army. The second value is figurative. The Guard is the best part of any social group. It is precisely because of this meaning that the phrase “labor guard” arose.