Spartan Mora regiments at Battle of Plataea

[hoplite14gr]

Kineas is right.
Sparta might have been weaker and knew it too - if we accept Archidamus restraining speech as given by Thukidides.

The root "LOCH" I use "CH" as strong "H".
"locheia" state of lying down. It is used up to day both in common speech and medical document to describe awomans recovery period after childbirth. The other word is "lechomai" = to lie down on something
Since to ambush you usually crawl or lay down the verb "elocheuo" (e-LOCH-euo)is used both in comon speech and all oficial documents

Homer uses the term "lochos" both ans ambush and unit. Homeric dscriptions of commando/hunting stories involve pairs or small groups, not units of 400 to 1000 men.

Herodotus is asumed to be of a hoplite urban class but nothing tell us he had military experince.
He was a Doric speakin refugee from Halicarnassos (Doric Hexapolis) from Perisian controlled areas trying to imitate "attik" manerisms.

Xenophon actually saw action and knew his staff better and understood units and subunits (Anabasis). From Xenophon to our days a lochos is a unit composed from 100 to 250 men maximum and that is what a greek speaker understands. The term "hieros lochos" was given only to Thebes or Argos elite hoplite formations and it was a traditionalims from the "very early days" where the cities initially had trouble forming 100 to 300 hoplites for battle.

Armies are "beasts of habit and traditon". This is something that we see even today. The most rational thing is that lochos as Xenophon and most Greeks understand appeared earlier than the 5th/4th centuries B.C.

Based on "hieroi lochoi" and the mixing of words vs meanings on Herodotus and sometimes Thukidides many scholars -most of them know armies-from books and movies stick to Lexikons and words appearences and will tell you that lochos at times describes aunit of 600 men an it evolved to the 100-200 men lochos of Xenophon. No such thing.

Naturally scholars entitled to their opinions and the unrestricted publication of them even ot he point of being misled and mislead others

Kind regards

P.S.
The term captain for lochagos comes form the Byzantine "Katepano" because westrn thems rarely could produce 100 horsmen (only those counted as soldiers in the 11th century A.D.) and naturaly the the Katepano - Kapitano- Captain camr later to be considered a company leader