Czar (also tsar or tzar) is defined by our AHD to mean one of the Russian emperors who ruled before the revolution in 1917. Above is the coat of arms for the Romanov family. Czar can also, according to the AHD, be used as a more generic term for someone holding autocratic power or someone appointed to power.
The word czar is interesting because it ultimately comes from the Latin word Caesar, which is what the Romans called their Emperors. The word traveled through Greek, Gothic (as kaisar), Slavonic, and Old Russian. Julius Caesar, the first Roman Caesar from whom the rest took their titles, never made it as far as Russia, but the idea of him did.
(picture credits http://www.rollintl.com/roll/grcoat.htm)
Oooh! Oooh!
ReplyDeleteYou cited your picture? Oh man.
That's classy. That's very classy. That's stylish. Nicely played.
Czar is a cool word.