carabin

1583 in the sense "light cavalrist". Later (1803) also "medical student". Etymology uncertain, suggestions include scarrabin "corpse-bearer during the plague" (1521), probably an ironic metaphor from a meaning "plague beetle" (from the family of escarbot, Latin scarabaeus). This suggestion implies that the soldiers called carabins were named after their reputation of rapidly and reliably dispatching of their enemies. Alternatively, the meaning "medical student" may be primary, the ironic meaning being attached to "surgeons" (carabin de St Côme, recorded 1650, Saint Cosmas being their patron), with the transfer to "light cavalrist" taking place with a certain military unit enroled under the banner of the same saint.

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carabin m (plural carabins)

1. carabineer
2. medical student

• “carabin” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).