d. It came into English from the French. The meaning seems
to have originated in Romanic, cf. Italian, Spanish and Portuguese _banda_,
and thence came into Teutonic. It has usually been taken (see Ducange,
_Gloss._ s.v. _banda_) to be due to the "band" or sash of a particular
colour worn as a distinctive mark by a troop of soldiers. Others refer it
to the medieval Latin _bandum_, banner, a strip or "band" of cloth fastened
to a pole. In this sense the chief application is to a company of musicians
(see ORCHESTRA), particularly when used in armies or navies, a military
band.

_Military Bands._--In all countries bands are organized and maintained in
each infantry regiment or battalion if the latter is the unit. The strength
of these bands and the number and nature of their instruments vary
considerably, as also do the rank and status of the bandmaster. The buglers
and drummers belonging to the companies are generally massed under the
sergeant-drummer and on the march play alternately with the band. In action
the British custom is to use the bandsmen as stretcher-bearers, but on the
continent of Europe the bands are as far as possible kept in hand under the
regimental commanders and play the troops into action; and in all countries
the available bands, drums and bugles are ordered to play during the final
assault. The training of bandmasters for the British service is carried out
at Kneller Hall, Hounslow, an institution founded in 1857 and placed under
direct control of the war office in 1867. The average strength of the
various classes of instrument in the band of a British line regiment has
been stated as--twenty flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons, four horns,
eight saxhorns, six trumpets and cornets, three trombones, two drums. The
buglers and drummers are in the proportion of one of each per company. The
saxophone, which is the characteristic instrument of military bands in
other countries, has not found favour with the British authorities. Another
specially military instrument, universal in the Russian army and more or
less common to others, is the so-called "Jingling Johnny," a frame of small
bells that is sharply shaken in the accented parts of the music. The
"glockenspiel" is also fairly common. The peculiar instrument of Scottish
regiments is the bagpipes. Cavalry, and more rarely artillery corps in the
various armies, have small bands. The mounted arms, however, have little
need of music as compared with the in