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Police
I (thought that I) replied to a thread by Bobjork with a photograph including a Police vehicle remarking about the similarity of the word 'Police' in various languages - Polis, Politi, Polizei, Politie, Polizia.
I cannot find that thread now (it showed Fire appliances attending a smoke incident on an underground train).
It seems (according to Wiki ;-) that the word derives via French from the Latin politia ("civil administration"), which itself derives from the ancient Greek πόλις ("city").
And the first police force comparable to present-day police was established in 1667 under King Louis XIV in France, although modern police usually trace their origins to the 1800 establishment of the Marine Police in London, the Glasgow Police, and the Napoleonic police of Paris - which is, in itself, strange when the French use the word Gendarme (which, I pointed out to my French-speaking son, is, effectively Gens d'armes - or men of arms).
So the explanation itself deepens the mystery (at least for me).
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