m. [Ital. fanti = a servant; Germ. fanz; Dan. fjante = an oaf; the Norwegians call the gipsies ‘fante-folk,’ and use fante-kjæring for a hag, fille-fant for the Germ. firle-fanz, a ragamuffin, etc.: the word is traced by Diez to the Lat. infans, whence Ital. and Span, infanteria, Fr. infanterie, mod. Engl. infantry, etc.,—in almost all mod. European languages the milit. term for foot-soldiers. In Norse and Icel. the word came into use at the end of the 12th century; the notion of a footman is perceivable in the verse in Fms. viii. 172 (of A. D. 1182)—fant sé ek hvern á hesti en lendir menn ganga, I behold every fant seated on horseback whilst the noblemen walk:—hence it came to mean] a landlouper, vagabond, freq. in Karl., Str., El., Flóv.; fantar ok glópar, Mar.; hversu vegsamligr var konungrinn af Ísrael í dag, hver eð afklæddist fyrir ambáttum þénara sinna, og lék nakinn sem fantar, and danced naked like a buffoon, Vídal. i. 220, cp. 2 Sam. vi. 20.