Pandur

In early 19th century Wallachia, being a Pandur was a fixed, legally recognized social status - whether or not one was a member of a specific military unit. This social condition had a considerable bearing on the central role played by Pandurs in the Wallachian uprising of 1821.

File:Trenkovi panduri Požega (u Čakovcu 2012).JPG troop from Požega, Croatia]]

By the middle of the 18th century, law enforcement in the counties of Croatia included county pandurs or hussars who patrolled roads and pursued criminals.{{cite web|publisher=Ministry of the Interior (Croatia)|url=http://www.mup.hr/UserDocsImages/PU_KA/dokumenti/o_nama/Povijest_karlovacke_policije.pdf|language=Croatian|title=Povijest karlovačke policije|trans-title=History of Karlovac police|accessdate=19 May 2012}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6RnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Each+Croatian+and+Slavonian+county%22|title=The Croatian-Slavonian kingdom, 1526–1792, Opseg 21|author=Stanko Guldescu|year=1970|publisher=Mouton|isbn=9783111798899|accessdate=19 May 2012}} In 1740, the term was applied to frontier guard duty infantry deployed in the Croatian Military Frontier (Banal Frontier), specifically its Karlovac and Varaždin Generalcies.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=B3mlRPBObGUC| title=Austrian Frontier Troops 1740-98| author=David Hollins| publisher=Osprey Publishing| year=2005| isbn= 9781841767017|page=5|accessdate=6 October 2012}} The role of the pandurs as security guards was extended to Dalmatia after the establishment of Austrian rule there in the early 19th century.{{cite journal|journal=Radovi Zavoda Za Povijesne Znanosti HAZU U Zadru|publisher=Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts|issn=1330-0474|url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=42262|language=Croatian|title=Seoske straže i poljsko redarstvo u kopnenoj Dalmaciji (od 1814. do druge polovine XIX. st.)|trans-title=Village guards and field police in mainland Dalmatia (between 1814 and the second half of the 19th cent.)|pages=467–481|author=Tado Oršolić|volume=49|date=December 2007|accessdate=19 May 2012}} The term has dropped from official use for law enforcement officials, but it is still used colloquially in Croatia and the Western Balkans in a manner akin to the English word cop.{{cite web|publisher=Portal dnevno d.o.o.|language=Croatian|title=Hrvatski panduri i srpski mangupi|trans-title=Croatian cops and Serbian mischiefs|url=http://www.dnevno.hr/kolumne/marko_lopusina/hrvatski_panduri_i_srpski_mangupi/192360.html|author=Marko Lopuština|date=28 December 2010|accessdate=19 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101011845/http://www.dnevno.hr/kolumne/marko_lopusina/hrvatski_panduri_i_srpski_mangupi/192360.html|archive-date=1 January 2011|url-status=dead}} The unit raised and led by Trenck is also referred to more specifically as Trenck's Pandurs,{{cite web|publisher=Ministry of Defence (Croatia)|work=Hrvatski vojnik|url=http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr/hrvatski-vojnik/0822006/podlistak.asp|title=Od počasti do propasti|trans-title=From glory to defeat|language=Croatian|author=Jurica Miletić|date=April 2006|accessdate=18 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222053222/http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr/hrvatski-vojnik/0822006/podlistak.asp|archive-date=22 February 2008|url-status=dead}} and less frequently in Croatia than elsewhere, as Croatian Pandurs.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YlZeg-UMouMC|title=War in European History|author=Michael Howard|publisher=C.H.Beck|year=2010|isbn=9783406606335|trans-title=Der Krieg in der europäischen Geschichte|language=German|accessdate=19 May 2012|page=110}}

The term pandur made its way into military use via a Hungarian loanword, in turn originating from the Croatian term pudar, though the nasal in place of the "u" suggests a borrowing before Croatian innovated its own reflex for Proto-Slavic /ɔ̃/. "Pudar" is still applied to security guards protecting crops in vineyards and fields, and it was coined from the verb puditi (also spelled pudati) meaning to chase or scare away. The meaning of the Hungarian loanword was expanded to guards in general, including law enforcement officers.{{cite journal|journal=Vijenac|publisher=Matica hrvatska|url=http://www.matica.hr/Vijenac/vijenac359.nsf/AllWebDocs/Kurije__vinciliri_i_panduri_|language=Croatian|title=Kurije, vinciliri i panduri|trans-title=Manors, guards and pandurs|author=Nives Opačić|issn=1330-2787|issue=359|date=6 December 2007|accessdate=19 May 2012}} The word was likely ultimately derived from medieval Latin banderius or bannerius, meaning either a guardian of fields or summoner,{{cite web|publisher=Merriam-Webster|work=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pandour|title=pandour|accessdate=12 June 2012}} or follower of a banner.{{cite book|page=115|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mFRLwQoJtI8C|title=The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer: The Prussian years and Le Prophète, 1840–1849|author1=Giacomo Meyerbeer|author-link=Giacomo Meyerbeer|author2=Robert Ignatius Letellier|author2-link=Robert Letellier|publisher=Associated University Presses|year=1999|isbn=9780838638439|accessdate=12 June 2012}}

Pandurs was also the name for the armed guard units of the Rila Monastery in Ottoman-ruled Bulgaria. In the 19th century, the Rila Monastery Pandurs numbered around 40 and they were headed by Ilyo Voyvoda at one point.{{Cite web |title=Музей "Манастирско стопанство в Рилския манастир - Българска национална телевизия |url=https://bnt.bg/news/muzei-manastirsko-stopanstvo-v-rilskiya-manastir-310567news.html |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=bnt.bg |language=bg}}

The name was also borrowed for Pandour Corps of Dutch East India Company and Pandoer card game.

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Category:Military units and formations