NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="aramis erak" data-source="post: 7674961" data-attributes="member: 6779310">Actually, Captain was the first formal military rank still in modern use to acquire its modern name, but the role was to command a unit of 10 to 300 men... what would now be considered a US/UK platoon to company... It comes from the latin "caput" - "Head" - and the armies had basically 3 levels of organization: The army, the 3 battailles (vanguard, maingard, hearthguard), and the various companies - typically each company was a Lord's contribution - commanded by the lord if present, or an assigned caput miles or caput bellator. (Head soldier or head warrior), or from capitaneo (Cheiftain). (I've seen compelling arguments for both derivations, and caput is the root of capitaneo...)  It was, and still is, the first command rank of the army, and the army use is older. But note that the latin terms post-date the empire - the Roman equivalent to the dark ages and later captain is the Centurion. (The tribune was equivalent to a modern major, lieutenant colonel or colone, and the Princeps ("first") to a brigadier/brigadier general. The Legatus was equivalent to the modern lieutenant general, colonel-general, general, or marshal, depending upon specific assigned duties and legions under their authority.A naval captain also commanded a company of between 10 and 300 men in military service with a commission from a nobleman... the difference being that he was granted permission to lease, purchase, or build a ship as well. Commissions as captains have been found dating back to before 1000 AD...Thing is, a Naval captain, until roughly 1700, usually commanded the same number of men as an army captain... 10-300. But, the company regularized around the 100-200 man mark in the 1700's while the ship of the line ran 200-400 men... plus a company of naval-soldiers... the term Ship's Company is still a holdover in english from that period. (Note that, generally, until the 19th C, a civilian ship's commander was a Master, not a captain... unless he held a commission, in which case he was a captain...)  Even in the US, until the second quarter of the 19th C, a naval captain didn't actually outrank a ground captain, except positionally. (Until 1862, The USN had 4 officer ranks: Captain, Commander/Master-Commandant, Lieutenant-Commandant, Lieutenant. The RN had "Master & Commander" instead of Master-commandant. And Master was a warranted rank of officer granted by a RN flag officer or a US Captain to a passed midshipsman or to a petty officer... the passed midshipsman could later become a lieutenant. There were multiple grades of naval captain...)Oh, and the term Marshal? it's got multiple derivations, too - Officer Martial was a court appointment for the noble overseeing the captains and captains-general. And then there is the french derivation, which comes from the french term for Farrier - the King's Farrier came to be the Marshal of Horse... (Marechal de Equites...)... Colonel dates to the 16th C. It's from Spanish  Coronel (royal officer) and Cabo de Colunelas (head of column)... due to the formal organization of multiple companies into a unit called a colunela (column). Noting that captains were commissioned by lesser nobles than the crown... while captains-general and coronels were commissioned by the crown. The French borrowed it, but changed the term to colonel, and the english grabbed the rank, the spelling, and the unit title from the French, but somehow used the Spanish pronunciation and then dropped a vowel...<a href="http://www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-110111-034.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.afhso.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-110111-034.pdf</a><a href="http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/roman-army/roman-army-ranks.htm" target="_blank">http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/roman-army/roman-army-ranks.htm</a>Also note: In the US, Captain is used not only for a ground or air forces officer of O3, but also for the officer commanding a police precinct (in large departments) or shift (in small departments) (either way, directly comparable to the commonwealth police rank Inspector), the positional title of a commissioned officer (of any grade) in command of a ship, a naval officer of O6, the elected head player of a sports team, as a synonym for the foreman in certain fields of labor (especially when elected; falling out of favor), as the term for the head mechanic of a given aircraft (properly plane-captain - usually an enlisted man, rarely a warrant officer), and as a derisive term for an officious ex-military person (especially an enlisted man) trying to pull rank on a civilian...if one wants a proper yet unique term, centurion would seem to be a good fit - it's not used in colloquial english, it's a military leader term, it is roughly equal to captain in terms of historic use, and only BSG fans are likely to be upset about it...</blockquote>

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