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MAJOR (Lat. for " greater ")

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 450 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAJOR (See also:Lat. for " greater ")  , a word used, both as a substantive and See also:adjective, for that which is greater than another in See also:size, quality, degree, importance, &c., often opposed correlatively to that to which " See also:minor " is applied in the same See also:connotation . In the categorical See also:syllogism in See also:logic, the See also:major See also:term is the term which forms the predicate of the conclusion, the major premise is that which contains the major term . (For the distinction between major and minor intervals, and other applications in See also:music, see Music and See also:HARMONY.) The use of Major as See also:part of an See also:official See also:title in Med . See also:Lat. has given the Span. See also:mayor, Fr. maire, and Eng . " mayor " (q.v.) . In See also:English the unadapted See also:form "major" is the title of a military officer now ranking between a See also:captain and a See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel . Originally the word was used adjectivally in the title " sergeant-major," an officer of high See also:rank (third in command of an See also:army) who performed the same duties of See also:administration, See also:drill and encampments on the See also:staff of the See also:chief See also:commander as the sergeant in a See also:company performs as assistant to the captain . This was in the latter See also:half of the 16th See also:century, and very soon after-wards the "sergeant-major " became known as the " sergeantmajor-See also:general "—hence the See also:modern title of major-general . By the See also:time of the English See also:Civil See also:War " majors " had been introduced in each See also:regiment of See also:foot., who. corresponded in a lesser See also:sphere to the " major-general " of the whole army . The major's sphere of duties, See also:precedence and title have since varied but little, though he has, in the See also:British service, taken the See also:place of the lieutenant-colonel as second in command—the latter officer exercising the command of the See also:cavalry regiment, See also:infantry See also:battalion or See also:artillery See also:brigade, and the colonel being, See also:save for certain administrative functions, little more than the titular chief of his regiment . Junior majors command companies of infantry; squadrons of cavalry and batteries of artillery are also commanded by majors . In most See also:European armies, however, and of See also:late years in the army of the See also:United States also, the major has become a battalion commander under the orders of a regimental commander (colonel or lieutenant-colonel) .

The word appears also in the British service in " brigade-major (the See also:

adjutant or staff officer of a brigade) . " See also:Town-majors " (See also:garrison staff See also:officers) are now no longer appointed .

End of Article: MAJOR (Lat. for " greater ")
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MAJOR (or MAIR), JOHN (1470-1550)

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