primipilen.

a1460 Knyghthode & Bataile (Pembr. Cambr. 243) 805 (MED) The principal prince of the legioun, Sumtyme it was..To make a Primypile, a centurioun; A Lieutenaunt men calle him in our wise..iiii c knyghtis eek of valiaunce This prymypile hadde in his gouernaunce.

1679 J. Davies tr. Appian Hist. i. vii. 220 The Military Tribunes and Primipiles running up and down, urged every one to get ready to march by the first Light.

1698 tr. Tacitus Ann. & Hist. I. ii. xi. 176 Germanicus..orders the Cavalry to pass the River where it was Fordable under the Command of Stertinius and of Aemilius a Primipile.

1745 N. Hooke Rom. Hist. II. xx. 433/1 Æmilius now ordered the Tribune..to give it [sc. the word of command] in a low voice to his Primipile, who was to transmit it to the next Centurion, and thus it was to be conveyed from one to another, till it had gone through the whole army.

1761 Ess. Art War 130 The Primipiles were the Lieutenant Colonels of the Legions, and each Primipile commanded the Centurions.

1856 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire V. xlii. 39 All its officers, from the imperator to the centurion and primipile.

1999 D. S. Detwiler Germany (ed. 3) i. 7 The fortified camp at Aliso was commanded by Lucius Caedicius, a veteran primipile, a chief centurion who, though technically not commissioned, held a rank comparable at least to that of a senior warrant officer today.