Crossword clues for subaltern
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Subaltern \Sub*al"tern\, a. [F. subalterne, LL. subalternus, fr. L. sub under + alter the one, the other of two. See Alter.]
Ranked or ranged below; subordinate; inferior; specifically (Mil.), ranking as a junior officer; being below the rank of captain; as, a subaltern officer.
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(Logic) Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition.
Subaltern genus. (Logic) See under Genus.
Subaltern \Sub*al"tern\, n.
A person holding a subordinate position; specifically, a commissioned military officer below the rank of captain.
(Logic) A subaltern proposition.
--Whately.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"junior military officer," 1680s, earlier more generally, "person of inferior rank" (c.1600), noun use of adjective subaltern "having an inferior position, subordinate" (1580s), from Middle French subalterne, from Late Latin subalternus, from Latin sub "under" (see sub-) + alternus "every other (one), one after the other" (see alternate (adj.)).
Wiktionary
a. 1 Of a lower rank or position; inferior or secondary; especially (context military English) ranking as a junior officer, below the rank of captain. 2 (context logic English) Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition. n. 1 A subordinate. 2 (context British English) A commissioned officer having a rank below that of captain; a lieutenant or second lieutenant. 3 (context logic English) A subaltern proposition; a proposition implied by a universal proposition. For example, ''some crows are black'' is a subaltern of ''all crows are black''.
WordNet
adj. inferior in rank or status; "the junior faculty"; "a lowly corporal"; "petty officialdom"; "a subordinate functionary" [syn: junior-grade, inferior, lower, lower-ranking, lowly, petty(a), secondary, subordinate]
n. a British commissioned army officer below the rank of captain
Wikipedia
In critical theory and postcolonialism, subaltern refers to the populations that are socially, politically and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure of the colony and of the colonial homeland. In describing "history told from below", the term subaltern is derived from Antonio Gramsci's work on cultural hegemony, which identified the groups that are excluded from a society's established structures for political representation and therefore denied the means by which people have a voice in their society.
The terms subaltern and Subaltern Studies entered postcolonial studies through the works of the Subaltern Studies Group, a collection of South Asian historians who explored the political-actor role of the men and women who comprise the mass population, rather than the political roles of the social and economic elites, in the history of South Asia. Marxist historians had already been investigating colonial history as told from the perspective of the proletariat, using the concept of social classes as being determined by economic relations. In the 1970s, subaltern began to denote the colonized peoples of the Indian subcontinent and described a new perspective of the history of an imperial colony as told from the point of view of the colonized rather than that of the colonizers. In the 1980s, the scope of enquiry of Subaltern Studies was applied as an "intervention in South Asian historiography".
As a method of intellectual discourse, the concept of the subaltern is contentious because it originated as a Eurocentric method of historical enquiry for studying the non-Western people of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. From its inception as an historical-research model for studying the colonial experience of South Asian peoples, subaltern studies transformed from a model of intellectual discourse into a method of "vigorous post-colonial critique". The term "subaltern" is used in the fields of history, anthropology, sociology, human geography, literary criticism, and Art History.
A subaltern is a primarily British military term for a junior officer. Literally meaning " subordinate", subaltern is used to describe commissioned officers below the rank of captain and generally comprises the various grades of lieutenant.
Ensign stands for standard or standard-bearer and was, therefore, the rank given to the junior officer who carried, or was responsible for, the flag in battle. This rank has generally been replaced in Army ranks by Second lieutenant. Ensigns were generally the lowest ranking commissioned officer, except where the rank of subaltern itself existed.
Usage examples of "subaltern".
The seven American generals had their problems, too, but each had a bevy of subalterns to solve them, while French and English businessmen encountered much difficulty in acquiring even basic necessities.
The title of Bimbashi, which had seemed absurd to him seven months before, was now nothing out of the way, for he looked as old as many of the British subalterns serving with that rank in the Egyptian army.
It would not be fitting for me, a subaltern of horse, to offer any criticism, though eulogistic, on the commander under whom I have had the honour to serve in the field.
Semper Cuni Linctus, the very night that he reamed his subaltern for taking native superstitions seriously, passed an olive garden and saw the Seventeen .
I have set a nipperkin of toddy by me, just by way of spell, to keep away the meikle horned deil, or any of his subaltern imps who may be on their nightly rounds.
And it did amuse me to observe the solemn subalterns nodding all like wise young owlets, as though they could, if they only dared, reveal secrets that would astonish the General himself.
Just as the game was ended, he received a letter, brought in haste by two sowars, from Lieutenant Wheatley, the other subaltern at Chakdara, warning him that a great number of Pathans with flags were advancing on the fort.
Flight Subaltern Smith to his first duty station at Thimblerig Aerodrome in Augusta, Georgia.
Once again, the unifying power of the subaltern nation is a double-edged sword, at once progressive and reactionary.
Et Silmarn, Kateos, and Dowornobb said nothing until Longo and his subalterns had departed the dome.
Grim-faced young subalterns, very conscious of the bigness of the brass that occupied the platform at the far end of the cave, stamped back and forth along the ledge from squad to squad, deadly little Royster pistolettos tinkling and naked in their sweating hands.
The bailiff and his subaltern stepped into the parlour and I followed in their footsteps.
Nevertheless he was the only Leicestershire subaltern who went through all our battles unwounded.
Nom Anor pass, but only the apprentices and subalterns crossed their arms over their breasts.
Brimstonic University noted that one of his subalterns had failed to return from an expedition.