Why not Chief in command or Commander of chiefs or similar?
The sentence basically means Commander in biggest or Commander in most important. It’s a strange structure.
Why not Chief in command or Commander of chiefs or similar?
The sentence basically means Commander in biggest or Commander in most important. It’s a strange structure.
A lot of military rank terms derive from French. In French grammar, the noun modifier often goes after the thing it is modifying rather than before.
Like Mont Blanc. Mountain white.
Origin of the title explains a lot.
Mont Blanc, white mountain
Montréal, royal mountain
Montagne Russe, Rollercoaster (literally “Russian Mountain” because the first roller coasters were invented in Russia)
Not necessarily military nor French, the Wikipedia page on postpositive adjectives has more examples of words which flip the normal ordering.
From the page you linked:
Yes, we are in firm agreement: that page offers more examples for the OP to peruse, some French and some not. My favorite is “attorney general”, with more to choose from.