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ADMIRAL,
the commander of a fleet. (F.,—Arabic.) See Trench's
Select Glossary, which shews that the term was often applied to the leading
vessel in a fleet, called in North's Plutarch the 'admiral-galley.'
Thus Milton speaks of 'the mast Of some great ammiral;' P. L. i.
294. But this is only an abbreviated expression, and the modern use
is correct. β M.E. admiral, admirald, admirail (Layamon, iii. 103),
or more often amiral, amirail. Rob. of Glouc. has amyrayl, p. 409.—O.F.
amirail, amiral; also found as amire, without the
suffix. There is a Low Lat. form amiraldus, formed by suffix
-aldus
(O.F. -ald, F. -aud ) from a shorter form amiræus.—Arabic
amír, a prince, an
'emir;' see Palmer's Pers. Dict. p. 51. ¶ Hammer derives
admiral
from Arabic amír-al-báhr, commander of the sea, supposing that the final word
báhr has been dropped. As to the reason for this supposition, see
note in Errata. [※] See Max Müller, Lectures, ii. 264, note (8th
edition). β. The suffix is just the same as in rib-ald,
Regin-ald,
from Low Lat. -aldus, answering to Low G. -wald; see Brachet's Dict. of French
Etym. sect. 195; Kitchin's translation. In King Horn, l. 89,
admirald rhymes with bald, bold; and in numerous passages in Middle English,
amiral or amirail means no more than 'prince,' or 'chief.'
Der. admiral-ty.
ERRATA
'Also Amiral, ultimately from Arabic Amīr, Emir, Ameer, commander,
imperator, cf. amara, to order. In opposition to recent suggestions,
he [Dr. Murray] maintained that the final -al was the Arabic article, present in
all the Arabic and Turkish titles containing the word, as Amir-al-umrin, Ruler
of rulers, Amir-al-bahr, commander of the sea. The first instance of
such a title is Amir-al-mumūnim, commander of the faithful, assumed by the
Caliph Omar, and first mentioned by Eutychius of Alexandria among Christian
writers. Christians ignorant of Arabic, hearing Amir-al- as the
constant part of all these titles, naturally took it as one word; it would have
been curious if they had done otherwise. But, of course, the
countless perversions of the word, Amiralis, Amiralius, Amiraldus, Amiraud,
Amirand, amirandus, amirante, almirante, admirabilis, Admiratus, etc., etc.,
were attempts of the "sparrow-grass" kind to make the foreign word
more familiar or more intelligible. As well known, it was used in
Prov., O. Fr., and Eng. for Saracen commander generally, a sense common in all
the romances, and still in Caxton. The modern marine sense is due to
the Amir-al-bahr, or Ameer of the sea, created by the Arabs in Sicily, continued
by the Christian kings as Admiralius maris, and adopted successively by the
Genoese, French, and English under Edw. III as "Amyrel of the Se" (Capgrave),
or "Admyrall of the navy" (Fabyan). But after 1500, when
it became obsolete in the general sense, we find "the Admiral" used
without "of the Sea" as now. The ad- is well known to be
due to popular confusion with admirari; a common title of the Sultans was
Admirabilis mundi; and vice versa in English admiral was often used as an
adjective = admirable.' Note by Dr. Murray, Phil. Soc. Proceedings,
Feb. 6, 1880.
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