sense development of "cadre"

[marnanel]

After a discussion at the party meeting last night I went and looked up the sense development of the word "cadre".

1. In socialist use it means a person who has learned to take on any work necessary (within a political team), so that the loss of any one member damages the team less.
2. And this comes from an earlier use of the word to mean a whole team of socialists-- a chapter, a cell group.
3. And that comes from an earlier use of the word to mean the structure used to organise an army.
4. And that comes from the French word for a frame.
5. And that comes from the Latin "quadrum", a thing with four sides.

So a square thing has become a well-rounded individual.

Comments

[simont]

Thank you – I had been confused about it for a while, because I knew it referred to a team or squad or that sort of thing, and had occasionally seen it apparently slipping into meaning the individual team members but it wasn't at all clear why it should have done so or what it was trying to connote by so doing.