Latin names for modern army officer ranks

Latin Learning Latin
1

Are there Latin names for modern army officer ranks? The Roman army was organized very different from modern armies. Some officer ranks seem to have Latin origins:

“sergeant” from “serviens”; like with “minister”, a word meaning “servant” has come to mean “subordinate official”, but its literal Latin meaning looks a bit unsuitable to use for an army officer.

“corporal” from “corporalis”
“colonel” from “columnalis”?
etc

2

I don’t know it will be useful to you but this book of Latin-French dialogues for travelers (published 1758) has army ranks with latin translations. These are 18th century French ranks so there’s some I can not find (adjudant) but they seem pretty close to the modern ones.

caporal (corporal) = decurio
sergent (sergeant) = centuriae instructor
major = major
lieutenant = subcenturio
capitaine (captain) = centurio
commandant = praefectus
colonel = militum tribunus, chiliarcus
général (general) = dux, imperator
Maréchal de France = marescallus

This French dictionary (1709) seems more complete. If it is the kind of thing you’re looking for, I can make a more thorough search through it to complete the list above.

3

This site is always helpful, too:
Utilis semper est hic situs:

4

Et hoc dictionarium: https://archive.org/details/robertainsworths00ains

5

For marshal, “marescallus” is not really a Latin word, but Germanic: marh-skalk = “horse-servant” or “man in charge of the horses” :: “servant” because he was subordinate to the king, I suppose.

6

Vel mariscalus, pro mareschalli vocabulo. Est ut dicis.
Secundum dictionarium de Ainsworth suprà citatum, et habes hoc: field marshal, Castrensis praefectus.

Sure. But you must expect many modern latin words (and modern military latin words) to be influenced by, or derived from, the vernacular and to vary accordingly.
Certum est, quaedam vernacula lingua nova vocabula latina mutat vel gignit, de quo variant illa vocabula.

7

colonel (anglicè, francicè) < coronel (Francicè) || colonnella (Italicè) < columna (militum, / columnalis, Latinè), ut dicis.

8

As you are trying to find Latin equivalents for modern army ranks, I somehow assumed that non classical Latin would be ok, sorry if I assumed wrongly.

And I don’t understand your argument about “marescallus”. Its origin is germanic but that doesn’t mean the word isn’t Latin.

9

Thanks. For “sergeant” these are suggested:

  • ‘optio’, but the word has other meanings also.
  • ‘decurio’, but the word has other meanings also.

(Likely it may be a bit too unclassical to Latinize the usual international modern word as sergens, sergent- decl3.)

10

Sergentus, secundae declinationis
Vide hoc: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Hj0PAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA431&lpg=PA431&dq="sergentus"+est&source=bl&ots=QdLs0PRpWT&sig=tsZlEpXJKt-YxJYsIIWF5XboQ7M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LsvmUsWGGIfH7AabjYHwDQ&ved=0CEYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q="sergentus"%20est&f=false

  • colonellus + capitaneus
11

Originally “serjent/serjeant/sergeant” it didn’t mean an officer but a lowest-rank soldier (“a serving soldier”), I believe. Its original meaning can’t disqualify it, because it applies in any language. Meanings change.
Id non sic primitùs significabat sed humilem militem servientem denotabat, ut credo. Non negat usum sensus pristinus nisi incongruus cuicunque linguae. Variant sensus.