lochus

[ lok-uhs ]

noun

, plural loch·i [lok, -ahy].

1. (in ancient Greece) a subdivision of an army.

Word History and Origins

Origin of lochus¹

1825–35; < Greek lóchos literally, ambush, place for lying in wait, hence, men forming an ambush; lochia

Example Sentences

For, if we compare the statements of the well informed Xenophon,1107 we obtain the following explanation of the names: two enomoties compose a pentecostys, two pentecostyes a lochus,1108 four lochi a mora; now if an enomoty, as must have been originally the case, contained twenty-four,1109 or, with the enomotarch, twenty-five men,1110 the mora would have contained 400; and, including the superior officers, pentecosters, and lochagi, 412.

From Project Gutenberg

In the battle of Mantinea there were seven lochi, each containing four pentecostyes, the pentecostys four enomoties, and the front row of the enomoty containing four men: the pentecostys had therefore 16 in front, the lochus 64, the whole army 448.

From Project Gutenberg

The single division of a lochus, in the common acceptation of the word, was also called λόχος, which, according to Schol.

From Project Gutenberg