comitadji

English

Alternative forms

• comitaji, komitadji, komitaji

Etymology

From various Balkan languages, all from Ottoman Turkish قومیته‌جی (komitacı), from Ottoman Turkish قومیته (komita) from French comité (“committee”) + ـجی (-cı).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɒmɪˈtadʒi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kɑmɪˈtæd͡ʒi/

Noun

comitadji (plural comitadjis)

1. (historical) A member of a unit of irregular soldiers or resistance fighters; a partisan.
   • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, page 808:

     For a summer he worked as a comitadji in Macedonia, and later joined the Serbian Army during the Balkan wars.

   • 2012, Christopher Clark, The Sleepwalkers, Penguin, published 2013, page 61:

     He was a former comitadji who had been involved in fomenting unrest in Bosnia after the annexation of 1908 and was even rumoured to have commanded guerrilla bands.