the.com/corporal
two stripes of authority and the saint who keeps your mortar dry.
means As a noun, the lowest-ranking non-commissioned officer in many armies, just below a sergeant; as an adjective, relating to the body, as in 'corporal punishment.'
from From Latin 'corpus,' meaning body — the same root behind 'corpse,' 'corporation,' and 'incorporate.' The bodily sense came straight through: corporal punishment is punishment of the flesh. The military rank arrived via Italian 'caporale,' from 'capo' (head, chief) — itself ultimately from Latin 'caput,' meaning head — so the officer-corporal is really a 'little head,' not a 'little body.' Two different Latin roots, 'corpus' and 'caput,' collided into one English spelling. There's also a third 'corporal': the white cloth on which the Eucharist is set, again from 'corpus' — the body of Christ.
- rank origin
- From Italian capo corporale, head of a body of troops
- lowest NCO
- Often the first taste of leading other soldiers
- napoleon nickname
- Troops called him the Little Corporal affectionately
- altar cloth
- A corporal also holds Communion vessels in church
- corporal punishment
- Same Latin root corpus, meaning the body
corporal john bradley — one of the six soldiers who raised the flag at iwo jima in 1945, featured in the iconic war photograph
corporal punishment — physical discipline practice still legal in schools in 19 u.s. states as of 2024