“ Originally the word was used adjectivally in the title “sergeant-major,” an officer of high rank (third in command of an army) who performed the same duties of administration, drill and encampments on the staff of the chief commander as the sergeant in a company performs as assistant to the captain. This was in the latter half of the 16th century, and very soon afterwards the “sergeant-major” became known as the “sergeant-major-general”—hence the modern title of major-general. ”