brigandage (n.)

大约在1400年，也称为 brigaunt，“轻装不规则步兵”，源自于14世纪的古法语 brigand，来自意大利语 brigante “骑兵，游击队员，步兵”，源自于 brigare “打架，战斗”（见 brigade）。“强盗，海盗，靠抢劫为生的人”的意义在英语中较早出现（14世纪晚期），反映了职业雇佣军和武装有组织的罪犯之间缺乏区别。

Probably then it was in the sense of skirmishers that the name of brigand was given to certain light-armed foot-soldiers, frequently mentioned by Froissart and his contemporaries. ... The passage from the sense of a light-armed soldier to that of a man pillaging on his own account, is easily understood. [Hensleigh Wedgwood, "A Dictionary of English Etymology," 1859]

可能是在游击队员的意义上， brigand 这个名字被赋予了某些轻装步兵，弗罗萨特和他的同时代人经常提到他们。...从轻装士兵的意义到自己掠夺的人的意义的转变很容易理解。[亨斯利·韦奇伍德，“英语词源词典”，1859年]