- corps
- late 13c., cors "body," from O.Fr. cors, from L. corpus "body" (see corporeal). French restored the Latin -p- in 14c., and English followed 15c., but the pronunciation remained "corse" at first and corse persisted as a parallel formation. After the -p- began to be sounded (16c. in English), corse became archaic or poetic only. Sense in Eng. evolved from "dead body" (13c.) to "live body" (14c.) to "body of citizens" (15c.) to "band of knights" (1464). The modern military sense (1704) is from Fr. corps d'armée (16c.), picked up in Eng. during Marlborough's campaigns.