Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, or fleet admiral.

Etymology

The word admiral in Middle English comes from Anglo-French amiral, "commander", from Medieval Latin admiralis, admirallus. These evolved from the Arabic amīral (أمير الـ) – amīr (أمير) [ʔmjr] (listenⓘ), "commander, prince, nobleman, lord or person who commands or 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), where al-Baḥr (البحر) means the sea.[1][2][3]

The 1818 edition of Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language, edited and revised by the Rev. Henry John Todd, states that the term "has been traced to the Arab. emir or amir, lord or commander, and the Gr. ἄλιος, the sea, q. d. prince of the sea. The word is written both with and without the d, in other languages, as well as our own. Barb. Lat. admirallus and amiralius. V. Ducange. Barb. Græc. ἄμηρχλιος. V. Meursii Gloss. Græco-Barbarum, edit. 1610. p. 29. Fr. admiral and amiral. Dan. the same. Germ. ammiral. Dutch, admirael or ammirael. Ital. ammiraglio. Sp. almirante. Minsheu, in his Spanish Dictionary, says 'almiralle is a king in the Arabian language.' Amrayl is used by Robert of Gloucester, in the sense of a prince, or governour."[4]

The quote from John Minsheu's Dictionarie in Spanish and English (1599), given in Johnson's Dictionary, has been confirmed as being accurate.[5] Additionally, the definition of Amīr (أمير), as given in Edward William Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, concurs, in part, with Minsheu's definition, stating that the term means "One having, holding, or possessing, command; a commander; a governor; a lord; a prince, or king."[3]

While other Greek words of the period existed to indicate "belonging to the sea," or "of the sea," the now obsolete Gr. ἄλιος mentioned in Johnson's Dictionary is expressly defined as "of the sea, Lat. marinus, epith. of sea-gods, nymphs, etc."[6]

Though there are multiple meanings for the Arabic Amīr (أمير), the literal meaning of the phrase Amīr al-Baḥr (أمير البحر) is "Prince of the Sea."[7][8] 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 voivodees 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.[9]

Modern acknowledgement of the phrase Amīr al-Baḥr (أمير البحر) meaning "Prince of the Sea" includes a speech made in an official U.S. military ceremony conducted in an Arabic port, and a news article published by an Arabic news outlet: On 24 May 2012, in a change of command ceremony aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65), while docked at Khalifa Bin Salman Port, Bahrain, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, Commander, U.S. Central Command, introduced Vice Admiral Mark I. Fox as "Admiral Fox, the prince of the sea, emir of the sea – to translate 'admiral' from the Arabic to English;"[10] On 04 Feb 2021, in an announcement of his coronavirus-related death, the Arabic news website Saudi 24 News referred to Admiral Edmond Chagoury by the title "Prince of the Sea."[11]

An alternate etymology proposes that the term admiral evolved, instead, from the title of Amīr al-Umarāʾ (أمير الأمراء‎). Under the reign of the Buyid dynasty (934 to 1062) of Iraq and Iran, the title of Amīr al-Umarāʾ, which means prince of princes,[2] came to denote the heir-apparent, or crown prince.

This alternate etymology states that the term was in use for the Greco-Arab naval leaders of Norman Sicily, which had formerly been ruled by Arabs, at least by the early 11th century. During this time, the Norman Roger II of Sicily (1095–1154) employed a Greek Christian, known as George of Antioch, who previously had served as a naval commander for several North African Muslim rulers. Roger styled George in Abbasid fashion as Amir of Amirs, or Amīr al-Umarāʾ, with the title becoming Latinized in the 13th century as ammiratus ammiratorum.[12]

The Sicilians and later the Genoese took the first two parts of the term from their Aragon opponents and used them as one word, amiral. .[13] The French gave their sea commanders similar titles while in Portuguese and Spanish the word changed to almirante.[14] As the word was used by people speaking Latin or Latin-based languages it gained the "d" and endured a series of different endings and spellings leading to the English spelling admyrall in the 14th century and to admiral by the 16th century.[15][16]

Further history

The word "admiral" has come to be almost exclusively associated with the highest naval rank in most of the world's navies, equivalent to the army rank of general. However, this was not always the case; for example, in some European countries prior to the end of World War II, admiral was the third highest naval rank after general admiral and grand admiral.[17]

The rank of admiral has also been subdivided into various grades, several of which are historically extinct while others remain in use in most present-day navies. The Royal Navy used the colours red, white, and blue, in descending order to indicate seniority of its admirals until 1864; for example, Horatio Nelson's highest rank was vice-admiral of the white. The generic term for these naval equivalents of army generals is flag officer.[18] Some navies have also used army-type titles for them, such as the Cromwellian "general at sea".[19]

NATO code

While the rank is used in most of NATO countries, it is ranked differently depending on the country.

NATO code Country[20] English equivalent
UK US
OF-9 Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, Admiral Admiral
OF-8 Albania, Spain Vice admiral Vice admiral

Admiral insignia by country

National ranks

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Definition of ADMIRAL". Merriam-Webster. 16 July 2023.
  2. 1 2 Catafago, Joseph (1858). An English and Arabic Dictionary, In Two Parts, Arabic and English, and English and Arabic. Bernard Quaritch, Oriental and Philological Bookseller. London. pp. 26, 30, 324.
  3. 1 2 Lane, Edward William (1968). Arabic-English Lexicon, in Eight Parts. Part 1. Librairie du Liban. Beirut, Lebanon. p. 97.
  4. ↑ Johnson, Samuel and H. J. Todd, ed. (1818). "Definition of Admiral." A Dictionary of the English Language in which the words are deduced from their originals; and illustrated in their different significations, by examples from the best writers: together with A History of the Language, and an English Grammar. In Four Volumes. Vol. 1. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. London.
  5. ↑ Minsheu, John (1599). Dictionarie in Spanish and English. p. 20.
  6. ↑ Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott (1883). Greek-English Lexicon. Seventh Edition. Harper & Brothers. New York. p. 62.
  7. ↑ Khalilieh, Hassan S. (2019). "Glossary of Non-English Terms." Islamic Law of the Sea. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-108-48145-8.
  8. ↑ ""Definition of Admiral." Scottish National Dictionary (1700-)". Dictionaries of the Scots Language. Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  9. ↑ Ágoston, Gábor and Bruce Masters (2009). Encyclopedia of The Ottoman Empire. Facts on File Library of World History. New York. p. 458. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1.
  10. ↑ "Vice Adm. Miller Takes Helm of U.S. Navy in Middle East and Combined Maritime Forces". Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). 24 May 2012. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  11. ↑ "Corona kidnaps the Prince of the Sea, Admiral Shaguri, in the protection of God – Al-Bina newspaper". Saudi 24 News. 4 February 2021. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  12. ↑ David Abulafia (2011). The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9934-1.
  13. ↑ Harry Thurston Peck; Selim Hobart Peabody; Charles Francis Richardson, eds. (1899) [1885]. The International Cyclopedia: A Compendium of Human Knowledge. Vol. 1. Dodd, Mead & Co. p. 103.
  14. ↑ Antonio Vieyra (1851). A dictionary of the English and Portuguese languages. Vol. 2. p. 48.
  15. ↑ The English Charlemagne Romances: The Boke of Duke Huon de Bordeaux. 1534. p. 143.
  16. ↑ John Ehrman (2011) [1953]. The Navy in the War of William III 1689–1697: Its State and Direction. Cambridge University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-107-64511-0.
  17. ↑ Erich Raeder (2001). Grand Admiral (1st ed.). Da Capo Press. p. 430. ISBN 0306809621.
  18. ↑ Brian Lavery (2003). Horatio Lord Nelson. Trustees of the National Maritime Museum. p. 139. ISBN 0-8147-5190-3.
  19. ↑ William Hepworth Dixon (1885). Robert Blake, Admiral and General at Sea: Based on Family and State Papers. Ballantyne Press.
  20. ↑ NATO (2021). STANAG 2116 NATO (7th ed.). Brussels, Belgium: NATO Standardization Agency. pp. B-1–B-3.
  21. ↑ "GRADAT, FORCA DETARE" (PDF). aaf.mil.al (in Albanian). Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  22. ↑ "Naval Force". Archived from the original on 2022-02-18. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
  23. ↑ "Grados Militares". fuerzas-armadas.mil.ar (in Spanish). Joint Chiefs of Staff (Argentina). Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  24. ↑ "Badges of rank" (PDF). defence.gov.au. Department of Defence (Australia). Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  25. ↑ "Azərbaycan Respublikası Silahlı Qüvvələri hərbi qulluqçularının hərbi geyim forması və fərqləndirmə nişanları haqqında Əsasnamə" (PDF). mod.gov.az (in Azerbaijani). Ministry of Defense. 25 June 2001. pp. 64–70. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
  26. ↑ Bangladesh Navy. "Rank of Navy & Equivalent Rank". navy.mil.bd. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  27. ↑ Ministry of Defense (Bolivia) [@mindefbolivia] (January 9, 2020). "Conoce la jerarquía de los grados de la #ArmadaBoliviana" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 May 2021 – via Twitter.
  28. ↑ "Postos e Graduações". marinha.mil.br (in Portuguese). Brazilian Navy. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  29. ↑ "ЗАКОН ЗА ОТБРАНАТА И ВЪОРЪЖЕНИТЕ СИЛИ НА РЕПУБЛИКА БЪЛГАРИЯ". lex.bg (in Bulgarian). Глава седма. ВОЕННА СЛУЖБА. 12 May 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
  30. ↑ "Ranks and appointment". canada.ca. Government of Canada. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  31. ↑ "Los grados jerárquicos de la Armada". armada.cl/ (in Spanish). Chilean Navy. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  32. ↑ "Oznake činova". osrh.hr (in Croatian). Republic of Croatia Armed Forces. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  33. ↑ "Grados militares". minfar.gob.cu (in Spanish). Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (Cuba). Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  34. ↑ "Søværnets Gradstegn" (PDF). forsvaret.dk (in Danish). Danish Defence. 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  35. ↑ "Insignias". mide.gob.do (in Spanish). Ministry of Defense (Dominican Republic). Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  36. ↑ "Officerer". armada.mil.ec (in Spanish). Ecuadorian Navy. 8 April 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  37. ↑ "Sümboolika: Mereväe Auastmed". mil.ee (in Estonian). Estonian Defence Forces. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  38. ↑ "Sotilasarvot Puolustusvoimissa". puolustusvoimat.fi (in Finnish). Finnish Defence Forces. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  39. ↑ "Instruction n°1 DEF/EMM/RH/CPM relative aux uniformes et tenues dans la Marine du 15 juin 2004" (in French). 15 June 2004. pp. 3793–3867. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  40. ↑ "Dienstgradabzeichen Marine". bundeswehr.de (in German). Bundeswehr. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  41. ↑ "Ranks & Insignia". Join Indian Navy. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  42. ↑ "GRADES / APPELLATIONS / DISTINCTIONS". defense.gouv.ci (in French). Ministère de la Défense. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  43. ↑ "Қазақстан Республикасының Қарулы Күштері, басқа да әскерлері мен әскери құралымдары әскери қызметшілерінің әскери киім нысаны және айырым белгілері туралы". adilet.zan.kz (in Kazakh). Ministry of Justice (Kazakhstan). 25 August 2011. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  44. ↑ "LOI N° 96-029 portant Statut Général des Militaires" (PDF). defense.gov.mg (in French). Ministry of Defence (Madagascar). 15 November 1996. p. 2. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  45. ↑ Secretary of the Navy (21 July 2018). "Ley Orgánica De La Armada De México" [Organic Law of the Mexican Navy] (PDF) (in Spanish). pp. 16–17. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  46. ↑ "Militære grader". forsvaret.no (in Norwegian). Norwegian Armed Forces. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  47. ↑ "Grados Militares". ccffaa.mil.pe (in Spanish). Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Peru. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  48. ↑ "Sposób noszenia odznak stopni wojskowych na umundurowaniu Marynarki Wojennej" (PDF). wojsko-polskie.pl (in Polish). Armed Forces Support Inspectorate. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  49. ↑ "Os Postos". marinha.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  50. ↑ "Grade militare (Military ranks)". defense.ro (in Romanian). Romanian Defence Staff. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  51. ↑ "ЧИНОВИ У ВОЈСЦИ СРБИЈЕ". vs.rs (in Serbian). Serbian Armed Forces. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  52. ↑ "Čini in razredi". slovenskavojska.si (in Slovenian). Slovenian Armed Forces. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  53. ↑ "Rank Insignia". navy.mil.za. Department of Defence (South Africa). Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  54. ↑ "Army Ranks & Insignia". ejercito.defensa.gob.es. Ministry of Defence (Spain). Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  55. ↑ "Branches/ Ranks". navy.lk. Sri Lanka Navy. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  56. ↑ "Nya gradbeteckningar införs". Försvarsmakten. 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
  57. ↑ "Les grades des officers de la marine". emam.defense.tn (in French). Ministry of Defence (Tunisia). Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  58. ↑ "TÜRKMENISTANYŇ KANUNY Harby borçlulyk we harby gulluk hakynda (Türkmenistanyň Mejlisiniň Maglumatlary 2010 ý., № 3, 58-nji madda) (Türkmenistanyň 01.10.2011 ý. № 234-IV Kanuny esasynda girizilen üýtgetmeler we goşmaçalar bilen)" [LAW OF TURKMENISTAN On military service and military service (Information of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan, 2010, No. 3, Article 58) (as amended by the Law of Turkmenistan of October 1, 2011 No. 234-IV)] (PDF). milligosun.gov.tm (in Turkmen). Ministry of Defense (Turkmenistan). pp. 28–29. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  59. ↑ "НАКАЗ 20.11.2017 № 606". zakon.rada.gov.ua (in Ukrainian). Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  60. ↑ "Chapter 3: Rank and Command". System of government, command and organisation (PDF). The Queen's regulations for the Royal Navy. 2017. pp. 3–17. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
  61. 1 2 "U.S. Military Rank Insignia". defense.gov. Department of Defense. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  62. ↑ Hudson, Rex A.; Meditz, Sandra W., eds. (1992). "Chapter 5. National Security". Uruguay: A Country Study (PDF) (2nd ed.). Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. pp. 222–223. ISBN 0-8444-0737-2. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  63. ↑ "Grados de Generales y Almirantes". ejercito.mil.ve. Government of Venezuela. 28 August 2017. Archived from the original on 17 July 2019.
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