Ensign (rank)

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Ensign (/ˈɛnsən/;^[1] Late Middle English, from Old French enseigne ["mark", "symbol", "signal"; "flag", "standard", "pennant"], from Latin insignia [plural]) is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy.

As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the regimental colors, the rank acquired the name "ensign". This rank has generally been replaced in army ranks by second lieutenant.^[2] An ensign was generally the lowest-ranking commissioned officer, except where the rank of subaltern existed.^[3]

In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign, لواء, liwa', derives from the command of a unit with an ensign, not from the carrier of the unit's ensign, and is today the equivalent of major general.

According to Thomas Venn's 1672 Military and Maritime Discipline in Three Books, an ensign's duties included not only carrying the colors but assisting the captain and lieutenant of a company and, in their absence, exercising their authority.^[4]

"Ensign" is enseigne in French, and chorąży in Polish, each of which derives from a term for a flag. The Spanish alférez and Portuguese alferes is a junior-officer rank below lieutenant associated with carrying the flag, and so is often translated as "ensign". Unlike the rank in other languages, its etymology has nothing to do with flags, but instead comes from the Arabic for "cavalier" or "knight".

Fähnrich, in German, comes from an older German military title, Fahnenträger (flag-bearer); however, it is an officer-cadet rank, not a junior officer. The same applies to the Dutch vaandrig, which has a parallel etymology.

The Finnish vänrikki derives from the same Germanic root word through the Swedish fänrik, but denotes the lowest rank of reserve officer in the Finnish ground forces, and is distinct from cadet ranks.

In the Swedish armed forces, fänrik is the lowest commissioned rank.

In the German Landsknecht armies (ca. 1480), there existed the equivalent rank of cornet, for men who carried the troop standard (known as a "cornet"). The cognate Dutch term kornet is still used in the Netherlands' artillery and cavalry units.