Where does “admiral” come from?

admiral (Middle English) comes from Old French amiral, from Latin amiralis, from Latin -ālis, from Proto-Italic -ālis — forms relational adjectives.

Ancestry of “admiral”, step by step

admiral traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Old French amiral

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchamiraladmiral
2Latinamiralis—
3Latin-ālis—
4Proto-Italic-ālisforms relational adjectives

via Old French amirail

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old FrenchamirailAlternative form of amiral
2Arabicأَمِير الْبَحْرcommander of the fleet

via Medieval Latin admiralis

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Medieval Latinadmiralis—

Words derived from “admiral”

Every word from Proto-Italic -ālis →Every word from Latin -ālis →Every word from Latin amiralis →