why is "commander in chief" structured like that?
Why not Chief in command or Commander of chiefs or similar?
The sentence basically means Commander in biggest or Commander in most important. It's a strange structure.
Commander in Chief actually goes back to the English Civil War (where Charles Howard was commissioned as lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief); and 'in chief' goes back to earlier french, basically denoting a feudal landholding that was given directly by the king.
Keep in mind that a Commander in Chief- while frequently the head of state; historically wasn't always so. Colonial or Regional Governors were given command of military forces in their areas of authority- that is to say, commissioned as commanders with sole authority over all forces directly by the king. that is to say, they were commissioned as commanders in chief.
A lot of military rank terms derive from French. In French grammar, the noun modifier often goes after the thing it is modifying rather than before.
Like Mont Blanc. Mountain white.
Origin of the title explains a lot.
Mont Blanc, white mountain
Montréal, royal mountain
Montagne Russe, Rollercoaster (literally "Russian Mountain" because the first roller coasters were invented in Russia)
Not necessarily military nor French, the Wikipedia page on postpositive adjectives has more examples of words which flip the normal ordering.
Chief Commander sounds so much better, although it also brings to mind the image of a stoner superhero: Kief Commander
This would make an excellent recurring story on American dad wherein Jeff is secretly a Superman à la quailman from Doug.
might be a translation from spanish (not that it clears anything up): comandante en jefe
It's slang for military butt sex.
Thought that was just enlistment in general.