taxiarch

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ταξῐαρχος (taxĭarkhos, “taxiarch”), from τάξις (táxis, “body of soldiers”) + ἀρχός (arkhós, “leader, commander”). Equivalent to taxi- +‎ -arch.

Noun

taxiarch (plural taxiarchs)

1. (historical, Ancient Greece) An Athenian military officer commanding a certain division of an army.
   • 1838, William Mitford, History of Greece, revised edition, volume 1, section IV, chapter V:

     The Taxis of the Athenian service, like the Lochus of the Lacedæmonian, was analogous to our battalion, and the rank of the Taxiarch, its commander, as of the Lochage, was nearly that of our colonel.

   • 1968, James Grant Wilson, John Fiske, Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography:

     In recognition of his services in the education of the women of Athens, he was buried with the honors of a taxiarch, by special orders […]