Origin of word volunteer

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Middle French voluntaire, from Latin voluntārius (“willing, voluntary”); or from voluntary +‎ -eer.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌvɒl(ə)nˈtɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌvɑlənˈtɪɹ/, /-ˈtɪɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: vol‧un‧teer

Noun[edit]

volunteer (plural volunteers)

1. One who enters into, or offers themself for, any service of their own free will, especially when done without pay.

   The volunteers at the nature reserve meet up ever other Sunday to help its upkeep.

2. (military) One who enters into military service voluntarily (but who, when in service, is subject to discipline and regulations like other soldiers), as opposed to a conscript.
3. (military) A voluntary member of the organized militia of a country, as distinguished from a regular or member of the standing army.

   • 2007 April 30, Edward M. Coffman, The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 16:

     That summer and fall the Army organized twenty-five regiments of volunteers, including two black regiments, which would have all-black captains and lieutenants. All officers were to be selected from regulars and volunteers who had distinguished themselves […]

4. (law) A person who acts out of their own will without a legal obligation, such as a donor.
5. (botany, agriculture) A plant that grows spontaneously, without being cultivated on purpose; see volunteer plant in Wikipedia.
6. A native or resident of the American state of Tennessee.

Derived terms[edit]

• volunteerism
• volunteerly (obsolete, rare, now nonstandard)
• volunteership

[edit]

• voluntarism
• voluntarist

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

volunteer (third-person singular simple present volunteers, present participle volunteering, simple past and past participle volunteered)

1. (intransitive) To enlist oneself as a volunteer.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To do or offer to do something voluntarily.

   to volunteer for doing the dishes

   • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:

     Miranda: No good. Both routes are blocked. See these doors? The only way past is to get someone to open them from the other side.
     Shepard: It’s not a fortress; there’s got to be something. Here, maybe we can send someone in through this ventilation shaft.
     Jacob: Practically a suicide mission. I volunteer.
     Miranda: I appreciate the thought, Jacob, but you couldn’t shut down the security systems in time. We need to send a tech expert.

3. (transitive) To offer, usually unprompted.

   to volunteer an explanation

4. (transitive, informal) To offer the services of (someone else) to do something.

   My sister volunteered me to do the dishes.

5. (intransitive, botany) To grow without human sowing or intentional cultivation.

Derived terms[edit]

• volunteering (noun)
• voluntell

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

• volunteer in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Initially, volunteers were called exclusively volunteer soldiers. [1] In Italy, France, England and Germany during the Eighty Years ‘and the Thirty Years’ War various suzerains called under the banners of more and more hunters to war, but often do not have the money for the maintenance of troops, stipulates that the award they will only be the glory and the spoils of war. To many it was enough: in the XVII century the French volontaire, Italian volontario, German Volontair, English volonteere appear almost at the same time, because of which in the Russian language during XVIII-XIX centuries, the word for a long time could not resist: Volentir, Volontir, voluntir, valentir, volunteer — were used in writing, depending on what kind of foreign language preferred a Russian nobleman who became a volunteer [2].

The word has taken a prestigious ( «To name this regiment always Gusar volunteers regiment Yekaterinoslavskie because volunteers name attracts more and more hunters», 1788 [2]), and pejorative tone ( «it is a terrible Volontir» 1830 [2]), since it is easy to imagine, They behaved like soldiers, a reward which was only glory or just the spoils of war, or a combination thereof.

By the end of XVII century in most European countries volunteers Institute took shape in the high-grade near-state recruitment system or urgent mobilization (in case of war) volunteers. The system was used to support staffing troops with lower breech spending on content. We used this system in Russia since Peter I. But beyond all the process has gone in England, where the army was completed mostly by volunteers until the First World War. [3] Here, before the others found the adjective «volunteer» (1640s), and the communion of «volunteering» (1690), and the verb «volontёrstvovat» (1755), and the first mention (in 1630’s) volunteers, not related to military service. [4]

It was in England, in 1844, there is now a world famous volunteer organization «Christian association of young people» (YMCA), aims to develop healthy «body, mind and soul», approved in the Christian faith. In 1851, Branch YMCA appeared in the United States just before the Civil War, during which quickly formed goals and disinterested aid techniques injured or needy as a result of hostilities — the wounded, the destitute, orphaned.

The development and worldwide distribution of the last decades of the XIX century, such declarative volunteer organizations like the Relief Society (Eng. Relief Society), «The Salvation Army», «The Red Cross» is increasingly associated the word «volunteer» for charitable, socially useful and, above all, selfless activity. On the contrary, the development of industry, the economic integration of national systems and as a consequence of the growing tax base allows the government to contain the increasingly professional and numerous army, drastically reducing the effectiveness of ‘volunteer’ mobilizations. As a result, in the literature of the First World War it is much easier to find a reference to «Sisters of Mercy» (members of the many volunteer companies) than the volunteer regiments.

In the USSR, the word «volunteer» was used rarely; he preferred the word «volunteer» and «militia». Ideologically, the social mission of the civil mutual aid and promote the healthy «body, mind and spirit,» put on by the type of the Western volunteer «voluntary» society [citation needed 344 days] organizations like VPO Lenin, DOSAAF and the Komsomol, fully affiliated with state. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of these organizations in the country formed a temporary social vacuum. Low living standards, sometimes with severe conjugate comprehensive reassessment of values, led to a forced break in the development of principles and volunteer organizations in Russia.

However, by the mid-2000s [citation needed 344 days] s request for this kind of activity in the country is obviously formed. first volunteer associations began to appear. Some of them were able to earn a certain social capital and achieve a new level of organization — regional or even federal. The number of participants in various volunteer projects gradually increases. Since 2010, [citation needed 344 days] to support volunteer projects officially announced the Government.

ВОЛОНТЕР

Синонимы:

Полезное

2. The main part

2.1. The meaning of the word “Volunteer”

The word origins form the French volontaire.

Volunteering is a contribution to the common cause aimed to improve people’s life on one’s own initiative and absolutely voluntary.In Russian there are approximately 7 million volunteers today, and the amount grows every year.

2.2. The main streams of volunteering

We can highlight four main streams of volunteering which are well developed in Moscow and where a volunteer can come.

The first stream is social volunteering. It is the most popular one and includes assistance to lonely veterans and children. It involves about 2.5 million people.

The second stream, a bit less developed one, is sport volunteering. Russia hosted the Olympics in Sochi in 2014, and now it is preparing for the Football World Cup this year.

The third stream in cultural volunteering often called in Moscow as art-volunteering. It appeared recently, in late 2014.

And another quite well-known stream is ecological volunteering.

2.3. Interesting facts about volunteering in othe rcountries

1. Fire Fighting Service in Germany is organized on a voluntary principle.

The Service recruits people from 16 or 18 years old, depending on the Land. Any applicant can become a voluntary fireman after an interview and a special training course. Only towns with population of more than 100 000 citizens have professional fire-fighting services.

2. China has introduced a project for monitoring the level of air pollution where citizens meter with their phones the level of pollution and send the results to government on a regular basis. This is an example of volunteering which is possible only with participation of volunteers.

3. Recycling group volunteers.

In Arakawa, Japan there is no centralized system of collecting utility waste, but there are voluntary organizations in each district which collect glass, aluminum, waste paper and plastic bottles. The volunteers collect the utility waste and take it to recycling. This scheme is so successful that Arakawa manages to collect up to 54.3 kg of utility waste per year from every citizen.

2.4. Comparison to other countries

The leaders of global ratings by the number of volunteers are the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Myanmar. The UK and Australia rank fifth.Russia is on the 8th place by the number of volunteers.According to the UN, one billion people, that is every seventh, participates in volunteering.