INFANTRY  , the collective name of soldiers who

march and fight on foot and are armed with hand-weapons . The word is derived ultimately from Lat. infans, infant, but it is not clear how the word came to be used to mean soldiers . The suggestion that it comes from a guard or regiment of a Spanish infanta about the end of the 15th century cannot be maintained in view of the fact that Spanish foot-soldiers of the time were called soldados and contrasted with French fantassins and Italian fanteria . The New English Dictionary suggests that a foot-soldier, being in feudal and early modern times the varlet or follower of a mounted noble, was called a boy (cf . Knabe, garcon, footman, &c., and see VALET) .