Turmae: Troop or Squadron

[Nathan Ross]

Troop or squadron.

Both are subunits of a cavalry regiment, so if you're calling an ala a 'regiment' then either would do, so long as you're consistent. But I think it's probably better to call a turma a turma... ;-)

The Romans presumably adopted the Cuneus cavalry structure from the Huns

There are references to cavalry cunei dating back to Alexander Severus, when the Huns were still a long way away!... But it's a very mutable term, it seems - as the reference to Symmachus shows, it could apparently be used to describe any group of cavalry. Not unlike numerus with infantry, in fact...