Echelon

noun

One level or tier of a distinctly stratified bureaucratic structure, professional field, or society
A formation of soldiers in which a series of military units are located behind and to either the right or left of the unit in front of them, creating a staircase effect when viewed from directly above or below
Any grouping of things or units into a horizontally tiered or staircase arrangement
A highly organized military unit

verb

The act of ordering a body of units into a strict formation, especially one composed of horizontally diagonal tiers

Usage

What do migrating geese, Theban hoplites, and aristocratic social systems have in common? Not much. However, they can all be described in terms of echelons! Let's start with our Theban hoplites. The oldest usage of echelon in English refers to a very specific type of military formation where groups of soldiers are arranged in a staircase pattern. The body of troops in an echelon can be arranged in a wedge or in a staircase pattern sloping to the left or the right. At the Battle of Leuctra, the Thebans used an echelon sloped to the left to break the right flank of the notorious Spartan phalanx! However, the use of the echelon formation in military tactics persists to the present day and is now employed not only on land but also on sea and in the air. In addition, the meaning of echelon has broadened to include any precisely ordered military unit. So the next time you're discussing military history or laying out your tactical approach for glorious conquest this word could serve you well!

What is more, this versatile word might be just as handy at your local bird watching convention or parking garage as it is at your council of war. Today, echelon is often applied to a variety of things which are organized in basically the same structure as the units of a military echelon. The V-shape assumed by migrating flocks of geese, for example, is called an echelon. Similarly, certain parking arrangements which organize cars into distinct sequential levels are described as echelon arrangements. If you so desire, you could organize almost any group of objects, let's say a tray of cookies, into an echelon, and if you do so you will have echeloned those cookies into an echelon.

However, the use of echelon to refer to a specific organization of physical units is pretty uncommon these days. We just don't discuss geese or Prussian cavalry the way we used to. We do, however, discuss the hierarchy of corporations, and echelon might enable you to complain about workplace bureaucracy more eloquently than your peers! In a typical pyramid chart demonstrating an organization's hierarchy, the structure is represented conceptually with diagonal stair steps sloping to the left and the right just like a military echelon formation! However, in this usage echelon refers not to the whole organization but rather to one tier of the organization structure. For example, as you lean languidly against the water cooler, you might remark, "Yeah, the boys in the upper echelons of Brewster Co. just keep getting further out of touch with how things work down here in the trenches." This remark also reveals that even in a nominally classless society it is possible to speak of lower and higher echelons in the social structure. Then again you might describe your ambition to climb through the echelons of amateur bicycling. And no matter how you choose to employ echelon, this handy word might just take your command of vocabulary up another echelon.

Example: Alexander the Great organized his troops into an echelon and led them into victory at the Battle of Gaugamela.

Example: The executives in the upper echelons of ACME Corporation rarely interact with those working on the ground floor.

Example: That slow-flying goose has messed up the symmetrical echelon of his migrating flock!

Example: The brusque military commander echelons each unit of troops into their proper place in his force's formation.

Origin

Echelon is derived from the Old French word for ladder, eschielle, which is in turn derived from the Latin scalae, meaning "steps." Just think of a leaning ladder, and you will see how each rung of the ladder is parallel to but in front of each rung below it. It is easy to see how the word came to be applied to similarly tiered organizational structures when it entered English in the late 18th century.

Derivative Words

Echeloned:Echeloned is an adjective derived from the verb form of echelon, and it refers to a unit or units which have been organized such that they are part of a whole echelon formation.

Example: Each of the carefully echeloned Boy Scouts stood rigidly in position before marching in the Fourth of July parade.

In Literature

From Markus Zusak's The Book Thief:

She wasn't delivering her children to the higher echelons of Munich, but a foster home had apparently been found, and if nothing else, the new family could at least feed the girl and the boy a little better, and educate them properly.

Here, echelon is used to refer to the more privileged, "upper class" level of Munich's society.

References

Echelon formation (Wikipeda)

Bring out the linguist in you! What is your own interpretation of echelon. Did you use echelon in a game? Provide an example sentence or a literary quote.