subaltern

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French subalterne, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin subalternus, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin sub- + alternus, from alter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌbəltɚn/

Adjective

subaltern (comparative more subaltern, superlative most subaltern)

1. Of a lower rank or position; inferior or secondary; especially (military) ranking as a junior officer, below the rank of captain.

   a subaltern officer

2. (logic) Asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition.

Translations

of a lower rank of position

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: nuorempi
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: subalterne (fr) m or f
• German: Subaltern m, Subalternoffizier m
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

asserting only a part of what is asserted in a related proposition

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: alisteinen (fi)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

Noun

subaltern (plural subalterns)

1. A subordinate.
2. (British) A commissioned officer having a rank below that of captain; a lieutenant or second lieutenant.
   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray:

     She was an extraordinarily beautiful girl, Margaret Devereux ; and made all the men frantic by running away with a penniless young fellow ; a mere nobody sir a subaltern in a foot regiment, or something of that kind.

3. (logic) A subaltern proposition; a proposition implied by a universal proposition. For example, some crows are black is a subaltern of all crows are black.
4. (social sciences) A member of a group that is socially, politically and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure of the colony and of the colonial homeland.
   • 2012, Aparajita De, ‎Amrita Ghosh, ‎Ujjwal Jana, Subaltern Vision: A Study in Postcolonial Indian English Text (page 109)

     In Ghosh's novel, a canonical western scientist is pitted against a counterscientific group of native folk-medicine practitioners led by Mangala, a subaltern in every conceivable meaning of the term.

Translations

subordinate — see subordinate

commissioned officer

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: nuorempi upseeri
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

proposition implied by a universal proposition

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: johtopäätös (fi)
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

member of a group outside a hegemonic power structure

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: siirtomaa-alamainen
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Finnish: alempi (fi)
• French: subalterne (fr)
• Greek: υπολοχαγός (el) (ypolochagós)
• Irish: fo-oifigeach m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: subalterno (it) m
• Manx: fo-oikagh m
• Spanish: subalterno (es) m

See also

• lieutenant

Anagrams

• subrental, unstabler