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BATTLE

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 534 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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BATTLE , a See also:

general engagement between the armed forces, See also:

NAVAL

naval or military, of enemies. The word is derived from the Fr. bataille, and this, like the Ital. See also:

BATTAGLIA

battaglia, and Span. batalla, comes from the popular See also:

Lat. battalia for battualia. See also:

CASSIODORUS (not Cassiodorius)

Cassiodorus Senator (48o–?575) says: Battualia quae vulgo Batalia dicuntur . . exercitationes militum vel gladiatorum significant (see Du Cange, Glossarium, s.v. Batalia). The verb battuere, cognate with " See also:

BEAT (a word common in various forms to the Teutonic languages; it is connected with the similar Romanic words derived from the Late Lat. battere)

beat," is a rare word, found in See also:

Pliny, used of beating in a See also:

MORTAR

mortar or of See also:

MEAT

meat before cooking, Suetonius (Caligula, 54. 32) uses it of See also:

FENCING

fencing, battuebat pugnatoriis armis, i.e. not with blunted weapons or foils. Battalia or batalia was used for the See also:

ARRAY (from the O. Fr. areyer, Med. Lat. arredare, to get ready)

array of troops for battle, and hence was applied to the See also:

BODY

body of troops so arranged, or to a See also:

DIVISION (from Lat. dividere, to break up into parts, separate)

division of an See also:

army, whence the use of the word " See also:

BATTALION

battalion " (q.v.). A "pitched battle," loosely used as meaning almost a decisive engagement, is strictly, as the words imply, one that is fought on ground previously selected (" pitched " meaning arranged in a fixed See also:

order) and in accordance with the intentions of the commanders of both sides; the See also:

French See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent is bataille arrangee, opposed to bataille manceuvree, which is prearranged but may come off on any ground. With " battle," in its usual meaning of a general engagement of hostile forces, are contrasted " skirmish,".' a fight between small bodies ("skirmishing" technically means fighting by troops in extended or irregular order), and " See also:

ACTION

action," a more or less similar engagement between large bodies of troops.

End of Article: BATTLE

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