polemarch

noun

(in ancient Greece) a civilian official, originally a supreme general

Word Origin for polemarch

C16: from Greek polemarchos, from polemos war + archos ruler

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Examples from the Web for polemarch

Historical Examples of polemarch

Then the polemarch ordered the ten-years-service men to charge and drive off their assailants.
Hellenica
Xenophon
It devolves, finally, on the polemarch to see that all goes well.
The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians
Xenophon
Each of these moræ of the citizens has one polemarch, four centurions, eight captains of fifty, and sixteen enomotarchs.
The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume I (of X) - Greece
Various
Polemarch, pol′e-mark, n. a title of several officials in ancient Greek states.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R)
Various
Callimachus, the polemarch, commanded the right wing—the Plataeans formed the left.
Athens: Its Rise and Fall, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Word Origin and History for polemarch

"commander of the army" in Greek history, 1570s, from Greek polemarkhos "one who begins or leads a war," from polemos "war" + arkhos "leader, chief, ruler" (see archon).