Editing Commando (section)

== Etymology ==
[[File:Cape Mounted Burghers - CaledonSquare - 1846-05 CBell.jpg|thumb|Cape Mounted Burghers, or "kommando," assembling for action in 1846 during the [[Seventh Xhosa War]]. The term originally referred to the mounted infantry of this type.]]

The term ''commando'' originally derives from the [[Latin]] word ''commendare'' ("to recommend") via the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] word ''kommando'', which translates as "a command or order" and or roughly to "mobile infantry unit". ''Kommando'' in turn originated from the [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] word ''comando'', which was used in [[Portuguese India]] to refer to an early type of [[special forces]]. The word was adopted into [[Afrikaans]] from [[Boers|Boer]] interactions with the Portuguese in neighboring African colonies.{{cn|date=April 2025}} In [[Southern Africa]], the term originally referred to units of locally raised [[mounted infantry]] which fought during the [[Xhosa Wars]], [[Anglo-Zulu War]] and the [[First Boer War|First]] and [[Second Boer War]]s.<ref>''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (14th ed.), Vol. 6, p. 106</ref> The British were exposed to the concept during the 19th and 20th centuries, in particular during the Boer Wars. During [[World War II]], the [[British Armed Forces|British military]] established the [[Commandos (United Kingdom)|Commandos]], a formation of special forces units which engaged in raids against [[German-occupied Europe]]. ''[[Wehrmacht]]'' special forces units were also referred to as "''kommandos''". Some historians have argued the term is a [[High German]] loan word originating from German colonists who settled in the [[Dutch Cape Colony]].<ref name="Dobbie" />

The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' ties the English use of the word meaning  "[a] member of a body of picked men ..." directly into its Afrikaans' origins:<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Commado |title=Oxford English Dictionary|edition=online|chapter-url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/36974?redirectedFrom=Commando#eid|title-link=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref>
{{blockquote|1943 Combined Operations ([[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Min. of Information]]) i. Lt.   Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. Clarke... produced the outline of a scheme.... The men for this type of irregular warfare should, he suggested, be formed into units to be known as Commandos.... Nor was the historical parallel far-fetched. After the victories of [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Roberts]] and [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Kitchener]] had scattered the Boer army, the guerrilla tactics of its individual units (which were styled 'Commandos')... prevented decisive victory.... His [sc. Lt.-Col. D. W. Clarke's] ideas were accepted; so also, with some hesitation, was the name Commando.}} During [[World War II]], newspaper reports of the deeds of "the commandos" only in the plural led to readers thinking that the singular meant one man rather than one military unit, and this new usage became established.