στρατηγός

Forms

στρᾰτηγός (stratēgós) m (genitive στρᾰτηγοῦ); second declension^[1] Arcadian and Doric στραταγός (stratagós), Aeolic στρότᾱγος (strótāgos).^[2][3] In Lesbian inscriptions this title keeps the local ⟨ο⟩ from a syllabic /r/, which was otherwise replaced by ⟨α⟩ in the classical period.^[4]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek στρατός (stratós, “army”) + ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”).^[1][3][5] The second member is the agent noun ⟨-ηγός⟩, with the initial vowel of ἄγω (ágō) lengthened in the compound, as in ἀρχηγός (arkhēgós) and ὁδηγός (hodēgós).^[6]

στρατός (stratós) probably first meant a camping army, “what is spread out”: Beekes derives it from Proto-Indo-European *str̥tós, a participle of *ster- (“to spread out”), matching Avestan stərəta- (“spread out”).^[7] The verb comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Archilochus, who says he does not like a tall general who walks with his legs apart.^[2][6] By the 5th century BC it is the general word for the commander of an army in Aeschylus and Herodotus.^[3][2][8]

Semantic evolution

At Athens the στρατηγοί (stratēgoí) were ten officers elected by yearly vote, who commanded the army and the fleet and ran the conduct of war at home; when distinguished from the admiral and the cavalry commander, the word meant the commander of the infantry.^[2][3] It was also the title of the chief magistrates of the cities of Asia Minor and of many Greek states, and of the governors of a nome in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt.^[2][3] Polybius and later writers use it for Roman magistrates: στρατηγὸς ὕπατος (stratēgòs húpatos) or the bare noun for a consul, and for a praetor.^[2][3] The comic poet Antiphanes and Aristotle's On the Cosmos use it figuratively for anything in charge, wine or the master of a hunt.^[2]

The New Testament uses it of the chief magistrates of the colony of Philippi and of the officer who kept order in the Temple at Jerusalem.^[5][3][2] Latin borrowed the word as Latin strategus, and Plautus calls a master of a feast a strategus.^[9][2] Coptic also borrowed it, as Coptic ⲥⲧⲣⲁⲧⲏⲅⲟⲥ (stratēgos).^[10]

In Modern Greek στρατηγός (stratigós) is a learned continuation of the ancient word, the highest rank of the army, with a feminine στρατηγίνα (stratigína).^[11] The English words strategy and strategic come from the derivatives στρατηγία (stratēgíā) and στρατηγικός (stratēgikós), through French and Latin.^[12]

Timeline

• 7th century BC – Archilochus mocks a tall, swaggering general.^[2][6]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it for the leader of an army.^[2][8]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Thucydides use it for the ten elected generals of Athens and for the magistrates of Ionian cities.^[2][3]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri use it for the governor of a nome in Ptolemaic Egypt.^[2]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for the Roman consul and praetor.^[2][3]
• 1st century AD – The Acts of the Apostles use it for the magistrates of Philippi and the commander of the Temple.^[5][2]
• About AD 350 – The Coptic borrowing appears in a dated Sahidic manuscript.^[10]
• 1810 – English strategy is first recorded.^[12]
• Modern Greek – στρατηγός (stratigós) is the title of the highest army rank.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The leader of an army, a general, commander.^[2][3]
2. In general, a commander or governor.^[2]
3. (Athens) One of the ten generals elected each year to command the army and navy and direct the war.^[2][3]
4. The chief magistrate of a city or state; in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, the governor of a nome.^[2][3]
5. (of Rome) A consul or praetor; also the duumvirs of a Roman colony.^[2][3][5]
6. (New Testament) The captain of the Temple at Jerusalem.^[2][5][3]
7. (figurative) A person in charge of something, as of a hunt.^[2]

Word family

• ἀντιστράτηγος (antistrátēgos)
• ἀποστράτηγος (apostrátēgos)
• καταστρατηγέω (katastratēgéō)
• παραστρατηγέω (parastratēgéō)
• στρατηγέω (stratēgéō)
• στρατηγία (stratēgíā)
• στρατηγικός (stratēgikós)
• στρατήγιον (stratḗgion)
• στρατηγίς (stratēgís)
• συστράτηγος (sustrátēgos)
• ὑποστράτηγος (hupostrátēgos)

Related words

• στρατός (stratós)
• ἄγω (ágō)
• Latin strategus
• English strategy

Usage notes

Cicero's letters use a disparaging diminutive, στρατύλλαξ (stratúllax), “a petty general”.^[7] Aristophanes forms a comic feminine in the Ecclesiazusae.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ van Beek, Lucien (2022), The Reflexes of Syllabic Liquids in Ancient Greek: Linguistic Prehistory of the Greek Dialects and Homeric Kunstsprache, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
6. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com