An Attempt To Date
the Tsar
G.D.O'Bradovich III
July 29, 2015
Courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary: What did the English know about the tsar and when did they know it?
Forms: Also 16 zarr, czaar, czarr, ksar, 17– tzar.
Etymology:
Romanized spellings of Russian tsari, in Bulgarian tsar king, sovereign emperor, Serbian tsar emperor, Croatian, Bohemian, Polish car (= tsar, c in the Roman Slavonic orthography = Ц in Cyrillic, being pronounced ts or German z).
The Russian form is reduced from earlier (11th cent.) tsisari = Old Slavonic tsêsari, in oblique cases tsisar-, ‘Cæsar, emperor, βασιλεύς, king’, also (in latter senses) tsari. (In Russian, the full form tsesari is retained in the sense ‘Cæsar’ and ‘(ancient Roman) emperor’; compare Serbian tsesar applied to the German emperor, but tsar to the Russian tsar and the Sultan.
The Slavonic word ultimately represents Latin Caesar , but came, according to Miklosich, through the medium of a Germanic language in which the word had the general sense ‘emperor’: compare Gothic kaisar , Old High Germankeisar , Old Low German kêsar , Old Norse keysari , whence also Finnish keisari , Estonian keiser , keisri . For the change of Germanic k to c = ts in Slavonic, compare church n.1 and adj.
The spelling with cz- is against the usage of all Slavonic languages; the word was so spelt by Herberstein, Rerum Moscovit. Commentarii 1549, the chief early source of knowledge as to Russia in Western Europe, whence it passed into the Western Languages generally; in some of these it is now old-fashioned; the usual German form is now zar; French adopted tsar during the 19th cent. This also became frequent in English towards the end of that century, having been adopted by the Times newspaper as the most suitable English spelling.
a. Hist. The title of the autocrat or emperor of Russia; historically, borne also by Serbian rulers of the 14th c., as the Tsar Stephen Dushan. In Russia it was partially used by the Grand Duke Ivan III, 1462–1505, and by his son Basil or Vasiliĭ, but was formally assumed by Ivan IV in 1547.
According to Herberstein its actual sense in Russian was ‘king’, but it was gradually taken as = ‘emperor’, a sense which it had in other Slavonic languages. Peter the Great introduced the title imperator ‘emperor’, and the official style shortly before the Revolution of 1917 was ‘Emperor of all the Russias, Tsar of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland’; but the Russian popular appellation was still tsar.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 290,
Wheras now this prince is cauled an Emperour, I haue thought good to shewe the tytle, and the cause of this error. Note therefore that Czar in the Ruthens tounge signifieth a kynge, wheras in the language of the Slauons, Pollons, Bohemes, and other, the same woorde Czar, signifieth Cesar by whiche name Themperours haue byn commonly cauled.
1591 G. Fletcher Of Russe Common Wealth vi. f. 19v,
Sometimes [there is a] quarrell betwixt them and the Tartar, and Poland Ambassadours: who refuse to call himCzar, that is Emperour.
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 95
The word Czaar signifiesKing, which may be seen in their Bible, where the Muscovites, speaking of David and his successors..they call them Czaars.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost xi. 394
The Russian Ksar In Mosco.
a1670 S. Collins Present State Russia (1671) 55
By the Grace of God We the Great Lord Tzar, and Great Duke Alexei, [etc.]..Tzar of Cazan, Tzar of Astrachan, Tsar of Siberia [etc.].
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1667 (1955) III. 494
He delivered his Speech in the Russe language alowd..halfe of it consisted in repetition of the Zarrs titles.
1756 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. I. 158
The czar at the commencement of the war was in the wrong.
1802 F. W. Blagdon tr. P. S. Pallas Trav. Russ. Empire I. 229
Heraclius, the Tzar of Georgia.
1810 E. D. Clarke Trav. Var. Countries I. vi. 105
The connexion which subsisted between the Tsars of Muscovy and the Emperors of Constantinople.
1890 W. R. Morfill Russia 56
Ivan assuming the cognizance of the double-headed eagle, and partially taking the title of Tsar, the complete assumption of it being the achievement of Ivan IV.
1893 Times (Weekly ed.) 4 Aug. 606/4
Accident to the Tsar's yacht, the Tsarevna.
Forms: Also 16 zarr, czaar, czarr, ksar, 17– tzar.
Etymology:
Romanized spellings of Russian tsari, in Bulgarian tsar king, sovereign emperor, Serbian tsar emperor, Croatian, Bohemian, Polish car (= tsar, c in the Roman Slavonic orthography = Ц in Cyrillic, being pronounced ts or German z).
The Russian form is reduced from earlier (11th cent.) tsisari = Old Slavonic tsêsari, in oblique cases tsisar-, ‘Cæsar, emperor, βασιλεύς, king’, also (in latter senses) tsari. (In Russian, the full form tsesari is retained in the sense ‘Cæsar’ and ‘(ancient Roman) emperor’; compare Serbian tsesar applied to the German emperor, but tsar to the Russian tsar and the Sultan.
The Slavonic word ultimately represents Latin Caesar , but came, according to Miklosich, through the medium of a Germanic language in which the word had the general sense ‘emperor’: compare Gothic kaisar , Old High Germankeisar , Old Low German kêsar , Old Norse keysari , whence also Finnish keisari , Estonian keiser , keisri . For the change of Germanic k to c = ts in Slavonic, compare church n.1 and adj.
The spelling with cz- is against the usage of all Slavonic languages; the word was so spelt by Herberstein, Rerum Moscovit. Commentarii 1549, the chief early source of knowledge as to Russia in Western Europe, whence it passed into the Western Languages generally; in some of these it is now old-fashioned; the usual German form is now zar; French adopted tsar during the 19th cent. This also became frequent in English towards the end of that century, having been adopted by the Times newspaper as the most suitable English spelling.
a. Hist. The title of the autocrat or emperor of Russia; historically, borne also by Serbian rulers of the 14th c., as the Tsar Stephen Dushan. In Russia it was partially used by the Grand Duke Ivan III, 1462–1505, and by his son Basil or Vasiliĭ, but was formally assumed by Ivan IV in 1547.
According to Herberstein its actual sense in Russian was ‘king’, but it was gradually taken as = ‘emperor’, a sense which it had in other Slavonic languages. Peter the Great introduced the title imperator ‘emperor’, and the official style shortly before the Revolution of 1917 was ‘Emperor of all the Russias, Tsar of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland’; but the Russian popular appellation was still tsar.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 290,
Wheras now this prince is cauled an Emperour, I haue thought good to shewe the tytle, and the cause of this error. Note therefore that Czar in the Ruthens tounge signifieth a kynge, wheras in the language of the Slauons, Pollons, Bohemes, and other, the same woorde Czar, signifieth Cesar by whiche name Themperours haue byn commonly cauled.
1591 G. Fletcher Of Russe Common Wealth vi. f. 19v,
Sometimes [there is a] quarrell betwixt them and the Tartar, and Poland Ambassadours: who refuse to call himCzar, that is Emperour.
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 95
The word Czaar signifiesKing, which may be seen in their Bible, where the Muscovites, speaking of David and his successors..they call them Czaars.
1667 Milton Paradise Lost xi. 394
The Russian Ksar In Mosco.
a1670 S. Collins Present State Russia (1671) 55
By the Grace of God We the Great Lord Tzar, and Great Duke Alexei, [etc.]..Tzar of Cazan, Tzar of Astrachan, Tsar of Siberia [etc.].
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1667 (1955) III. 494
He delivered his Speech in the Russe language alowd..halfe of it consisted in repetition of the Zarrs titles.
1756 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. I. 158
The czar at the commencement of the war was in the wrong.
1802 F. W. Blagdon tr. P. S. Pallas Trav. Russ. Empire I. 229
Heraclius, the Tzar of Georgia.
1810 E. D. Clarke Trav. Var. Countries I. vi. 105
The connexion which subsisted between the Tsars of Muscovy and the Emperors of Constantinople.
1890 W. R. Morfill Russia 56
Ivan assuming the cognizance of the double-headed eagle, and partially taking the title of Tsar, the complete assumption of it being the achievement of Ivan IV.
1893 Times (Weekly ed.) 4 Aug. 606/4
Accident to the Tsar's yacht, the Tsarevna.