A number of armored or ceremonial mounted units in modern armies retain the designation of hussars.
Historically, the term derives from the cavalry of late medieval Hungary, under Matthias Corvinus.
The origin of the word "hussar" remains uncertain and several alternative theories are summarised below.
The first written mention of the word Hussarones (in Latin, plural; in Hungarian: Huszár) has been found in documents dating from 1432 in Southern Hungary (at the time the Ottoman military frontiers of the Hungarian Kingdom).
A type of irregular light horsemen was already well-established by the 15th century in medieval Hungary. Etymologists are divided over the derivation of the word hussar.Byzantinist scholars argue that the term originated in Roman military practice, and the cursarii (singular cursarius). 10th-century Byzantine military manuals mention chonsarioi, light cavalry, recruited in the Balkans, especially Serbs, "ideal for scouting and raiding". This word was subsequently reintroduced to Western European military practice after its original usage had been lost with the collapse of Rome in the west.According to Webster's Dictionary, the word hussar stems from the Hungarian huszár, which in turn originates from the medieval Serbian husar (Cyrillic: хусар, or gusar, Cyrillic: гусар), meaning brigand (because early hussars' shock troops tactics used against the Ottoman army resembled that of brigands; in modern Serbian the meaning of gusar is limited to sea pirate ), from the Medieval Latin cursarius (cf.