legion vs militia

legion

noun
  • A large military or semi-military unit trained for combat; any military force; an army, regiment; an armed, organized and assembled militia. 

  • The major unit or division of the Roman army, usually comprising 3000 to 6000 infantry soldiers and 100 to 200 cavalry troops. 

  • A combined arms major military unit featuring cavalry, infantry, and artillery, including historical units such as the British Legion, and present-day units such as the Spanish Legion and the French Foreign Legion. 

  • A national organization or association of former servicemen, such as the American Legion. 

  • A large number of people; a multitude. 

  • A great number. 

adj
  • Numerous; vast; very great in number 

verb
  • To form into legions. 

militia

noun
  • An army of trained civilians, which may be an official reserve army, called upon in time of need, the entire able-bodied population of a state which may also be called upon, or a private force not under government control. 

  • Synonym of militsia: the national police force of certain countries (e.g. Belarus). 

How often have the words legion and militia occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )