admiral

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈædməɹəl/, /ˈædmɹəl/ (UK); /ˈædməɹəl/, /ˈædmɚəl/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French amiral,^[2][3][4] ultimately from Arabic amīr “commander”,^[5][4][3] as in the title amīr-al-baḥr “commander of the sea”.^[4] Because amīr was always followed by -al- (“of the”) in such titles, Christian writers took amīr-al- to be a single word;^[2][3] Barnhart notes that later scholars have instead proposed amīr-ar-raḥl “chief of the transport”, for the fleet sailing between North Africa and Andalusia.^[2] The unetymological d came through Medieval Latin admiralis and the influence of Latin admīrābilis “admirable”.^[2][3][6] The Arabic word was later borrowed again as emir.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An emir, prince or commander among the Saracens; any Muslim ruler or military commander.^[7][3][2] The OED's first quotation is from c. 1205 and Etymonline dates the word to c. 1200, while Barnhart places the spelling with d before 1200.^[7][3][2]

Semantic evolution

The shift from a commander on land to a commander at sea probably began in 12th-century Sicily with Medieval Latin amiratus and then spread across Europe, although the word also kept its meaning of a Muslim commander through the Middle Ages.^[3] Anglo-French documents of the late 13th century already have amiral de la mer “commander of a fleet”.^[3] In English the naval sense dates from the early 15th century,^[3][7] and the word was later applied to the admiral's ship (1588) and to the commander of a fishing or merchant fleet (1708).^[7] The butterfly name (1720) may be a corruption of admirable, according to the OED.^[3][7]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – “Saracen commander or ruler”; the OED's first quotation is from c. 1205.^[3][7]
• 1297 – the form amiral.^[2]
• late 13th century – Anglo-French amiral de la mer, “commander of a fleet”.^[3]
• c. 1425 – a naval officer of the highest rank; the commander of a fleet.^[7][3]
• 1460 – the commander-in-chief of a country's navy.^[7]
• 1588 – the ship carrying an admiral, a flagship.^[7]
• 1708 – the privileged commander of a fishing or merchant fleet.^[7]
• 1720 – the name of a butterfly.^[7][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A naval officer of the highest rank; the commander in chief of a fleet or navy.
2. A flag officer; in the US Navy and Coast Guard, the rank above vice admiral.
3. (British) A master who directs a fishing fleet.
4. Any of several brightly coloured nymphalid butterflies, such as the red admiral.
5. (archaic) The ship carrying an admiral; a flagship.

Word family

• admiralship
• admiralty
• admiral of the fleet
• fleet admiral
• rear admiral
• red admiral
• vice admiral
• white admiral

Related words

• emir
• admire
• admirable

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. [1] [2] [3] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. [1] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press