Word Origins | Admiral

Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies, and in many navies is the highest rank. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, or fleet admiral. In NATO, admirals have a rank code of OF-9 as a four-star rank.

This position, versus “commander of the sea,” is demonstrated by legal practices prevailing in the Ottoman Empire, whereas it was only possible for Phanariots to qualify for attaining four princely positions, those being grand dragoman, dragoman of the fleet, and the voievods of Moldavia and Wallachia. Those Phanariots who attained the princely position of dragoman of the fleet served under the Ottoman admiral having administration of the Aegean islands and the Anatolian coast.

Mavi Boncuk |

An etymology of ADMIRAL.

Amiral: [l ince] i. (Fr. amiral < Port. amiralho < Ar. amіr ar-raḥl [emіrü’r-raḥl “göç eşyâsı emîri”]) Deniz kuvvetlerine ve donanmaya kumanda eden ve albaydan sonra gelen yüksek rütbeli deniz subaylarına verilen unvan.

admiral (n.): from the Arabic Amīral (أمير الـ) – Amīr (أمير), “king, prince, chief, leader, nobleman, lord, a governor, commander, or person who rules over a number of people,”and al (الـ), the Arabic article answering to “the.” In Arabic, admiral is also represented as Amīr al-Baḥr (أمير البحر) or (البحر أمير), where al-Baḥr (البحر) means “the seaprince.”

c. 1200, amiral, admirail, "Saracen commander or chieftain," from Old French amirail (12c.) "Saracen military commander; any military commander," ultimately from medieval Arabic amir "military commander," probably via Medieval Latin use of the word for "Muslim military leader."

Amiral de la mer "commander of a fleet of ships" is in late 13c. Anglo-French documents. Meaning "highest-ranking naval officer" in English is from early 15c. The extension of the word's meaning from "commander on land" to "commander at sea" likely began in 12c. Sicily with Medieval Latin amiratus and then spread to the continent, but the word also continued to mean "Muslim military commander" in Europe in the Middle Ages. The Arabic word was later Englished as emir.

As amīr is constantly followed by -al- in all such titles, amīr-al- was naturally assumed by Christian writers as a substantive word, and variously Latinized .... [OED]

Also in Old French and Middle English further conformed to familiar patterns as amirauld, amiraunt. The unetymological -d- probably is from influence of Latin ad-mirabilis (see admire). Italian form almiraglio, Spanish almirante are from confusion with Arabic words in al-. As the name of a type of butterfly from 1720, according to OED possibly a corruption of admirable.

Death of Admiral Nelson

John Ball