hussar: [15] Ultimately, hussar is the same word as corsair. Its remote ancestor is Italian corsaro, which was borrowed via Old Serbian husar into Hungarian as huszár. This originally retained the meaning of corsair, ‘plunderer’, but gradually developed into ‘horseman’, and it was as ‘Hungarian horseman’ that English borrowed it. => corsair
hussar (n.)
1530s, from German Husar, from Hungarian huszár "light horseman," originally "freebooter," from Old Serbian husar, variant of kursar "pirate," from Italian corsaro (see corsair). Bodies of light horsemen organized in Hungary late 15c., widely imitated elsewhere in Europe.
