Rank And File
I'm sure many of you, like me, were moved by the ceremony last year to honour the town of Wootton Bassett with the title of 'Royal' in recognition of its faithful dedication to those who lost their lives in armed conflict. Thinking about this subject, I thought I'd look at some of the fascinating histories behind the names of military ranks.
For example, I assumed admiral must have something to do with 'admire'. But it actually derives from an Old French word for a Saracen military commander. Sergeant comes from the Latin servire, meaning 'to serve', which is strange as this isn't the lowest rank.
Colonel comes from the Latin word for a column or pillar. Back in the 16th century, the colonel was the commander of a column of soldiers.
I was most perplexed by General. It seemed odd to me that such a high rank should have such a, well, general title! I learned that it is an abbreviation from Captain General. General was added to Captain in the 14th century to indicate a superior rank.
Dear Francesca, You didn't mention CORPORAL. Corporals were originally BODYGUARDS (corpus means body) and their duty in battle was to guard the officer's back when he engaged in combat one-on-one with a similarly 'ranked' enemy. Remember that David got rid of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, by ordering his corporals to desert him in the fight. An officer without corporals didn't have a chance in hell in the middle of the hurly-burly.
Francesca, Micronesia | 22 Aug 2012
Hi Edison,Lovely to hear from somebody in Uruguay! I could have filled many pages with military terminology but the pesky powers-that-be put limits on my otherwise interminable ramblings... I was also interested to learn of the background to the word 'cadet'. Back in the early 17th century, it was a French word meaning 'younger son or brother'. Younger sons from Gascon noble families were apparently sent to French court to serve as officers, which gave the word its military meaning.