Leventis (Λεβέντης) is a Greek word for describing a brave man, derived from the Greek name for the Levant . Because nt is pronounced /nd/ in Greek, the name is sometimes spelled Levendis . The etymology of Leventis is given in the Oxford Dictionary of American Family Names:
7-555: From Italian levanti ‘Levantine’, ‘people from the East’, i.e. the eastern Mediterranean, also in Greek the term has connotations of fearlessness and gallantry. It is also a reduced form of surnames with Levento- as a prefix, e.g. Leventogiannis ‘John the gallant’. Alternatively, it may originate from the Turkish word Levend . In contemporary Greek, "levendis" means a handsome and gallant male. Here
14-404: Is a partial list of people named Leventis or Levendis: In Harlan Ellison 's short story The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore , each of the vignettes that comprise the story are preceded by "LEVENDIS": The Nigerian football team Leventis United is named after the A. G. Leventis foundation created by Anastasios G. Leventis. Levend Levend or levendi ( Arabic lawend )
21-467: The 17th and 18th centuries, levend came to refer to irregular mercenaries, mostly infantry but also cavalry, used alongside other terms. Like the mercenaries and condottieri of Western Europe, the levend formed true "free companies"; their employer was either the Ottoman central government, which was increasingly pressed for fresh troops to match the growing strength of its various neighbours, and to offset
28-533: The decline of its once-formidable kapikulu soldiery, or various provincial magnates and governors. A notable aspect of Ottoman mercenaries is that they served away from their home region; thus Albanians served in the Middle East , and Anatolian Turks in Europe or North Africa. When without employment, however, the levends often turned to brigandage, and the term quickly came to denote any "vagabond and rascal". At
35-532: The same manpower pool (eventually along with Muslim Anatolian Turks), borrowed the name. Gradually, as the Ottoman navy became more professional, the undisciplined levends started to be replaced by regular troops. The name however survived as a generic name for naval troops, particularly the riflemen ( tüfekdji ). Thus the Imperial Arsenal in Constantinople contained two barracks for levends . Thus in
42-489: The turn of the 18th century, the Ottoman authorities tried to counter the activities of roving levend bands by offering them employment in the new military corps of deli and gönüllü . Later, repeated expeditions were waged against them in Anatolia in 1737, 1747, 1752, 1759, and 1763. Even when they formed part of a governor's retinue, however, they had a reputation for criminal behaviour and licentiousness, as records from
49-645: Was a name for irregular soldiers . The term originated with the Ottoman Navy , but eventually spread to encompass most irregular troops. The origin of the term is probably from Italian levanti , and was used by the Venetians for the various local troops they raised in the coasts of the Balkans , i.e. Christian Greeks, Albanians, and Dalmatians, to serve in the Venetian navy or as auxiliary troops. The Ottomans, who relied on
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