The encyclopedia of the Russian language sparingly describes in a few lines the origin and meaning of the concept of "king". This unfortunate omission becomes all the more incomprehensible, because it is in Russian that this word is used very often. We will try to tell where this concept came from in our language.
Origin of the term
The word "king" is a distorted pronunciation of the Latin concept caesar (Caesar, Caesar), which came to Russian through Byzantium. In ancient Rome, after the era of the brilliant reign of Julius Caesar, this was the name given to the person with all the power. The ancient Slavs did not have kings - all power belonged to the princes. It is interesting that the Western European early Middle Ages did not have kings, but in the Near and Middle East autocratic kings met at every turn. For example, it is enough to recall King Solomon from the Book of Judges, who had unlimited power in ancient Israel.
Medieval Russia
Who knows, if not for such a long bondage of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, maybe ancient Russia would have been delivered from tsarism as the highest form of autocracy. Butseveral hundred years of Mongol domination strengthened precisely the eastern form of government in ancient Muscovy. The tsars of Russia have all the features of oriental despotism and bring cruelty and ruthlessness to enemies into their own forms of government, demanding absolute obedience from those close to them.
Ivan the Terrible
The era of Russian tsars began at the end of the 16th century. The long period of unrest and Tatar rule was coming to an end. Russia grew stronger and united around the Moscow principality. The first Russian tsar is Ivan the Terrible, the offspring of the great Rurik dynasty, who ruled the Russian lands for many centuries. It is interesting that Ivan the Terrible began to call himself tsar far from immediately. The first years of his reign on all documents next to his name melted the title of the Grand Duke. But Byzantium, which was considered the elder sister of Russia, fell under the onslaught of the Turks. The title of absolute ruler was taken up by Ivan the Terrible. In decrees and letters, the word “autocrat” began to appear next to his name - this is how the title of emperor of Byzantium was translated. In addition, he managed to marry the niece of the real and Byzantine emperor Sophia Palaiologos. Having become the wife of Ivan the Terrible, she shared with him not only power in Russia, but also the ghostly inheritance rights to all the titles of the Eastern Roman Empire. In addition to the title "king of the state", she transferred the rights to the coat of arms. This is how the double-headed eagle appears on the seal of the autocrat and Tsar Ivan, which once proudly adorned the coats of arms and banners of the Byzantine emperors.
Kings of Russia
After the death of Ivan the Terrible was notno one who could, by right of succession to the throne, take the place of the Muscovite tsar. Numerous False Dmitrys and other applicants were eventually mercilessly expelled from the royal chambers. On March 13, 1613, at the Zemsky Sobor, it was decided to elect Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov as tsar and place him on the throne of Moscow. Thus began the three-hundred-year reign of the Romanov tsars, one of the most famous monarchical dynasties in the world.
Kings and kings
Interestingly, when translated from Russian, the word "tsar" loses its autocratic meaning. Quite often in European languages it is replaced by the term "king", which is not quite the same thing. The attitude towards the king and the king was different. In Russia, the tsar is the viceroy of God on earth, a protector and intercessor, his anger was considered akin to a father’s, it was not for nothing that the phrase “tsar-father” came to us from antiquity.
The concept of "king" is the supreme ruler of a particular land. If for a Russian the word "tsar" is a synonym for the ruler of his own country, then in the thinking of a European the association will be more biblical. Such a discrepancy in the interpretation of the same word has led to the fact that in some languages an interesting transcription of this mysterious word has appeared. King is [tsar], [tzar] and other similar terms copied letter by letter. Sometimes it is replaced by the term king.
Probably, you might think that in our time, when the reign of kings is no longer relevant, and the concept as such is almost gone. This is not entirely true. If we ignore the state incarnation of this term, then this conceptoften found in Russian, only in a figurative sense. Today, the king is something majestic, rich, powerful, and sometimes simply huge. We all know about the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell.
Praising a dinner or a dress, we characterize them with the word "royal". Perhaps this word will surprise us more than once in the very near future.
