czar English · revision 1580

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /zɑː(ɹ)/, /t͡sɑː(ɹ)/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|ru|царь|tr=tsarʹ]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|orv|цѣсарь|tr=cěsarĭ|t=emperor, king]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|got|𐌺𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌰𐍂|tr=kaisar]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) from Greek ''kaîsar'',^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) from [[la|Caesar]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) Barnhart says it came through Polish,^(Barnhart 1995) while Merriam-Webster gives New Latin ''czar''.^(MW Collegiate) The spelling with ''cz-'' goes back to Herberstein's book on Muscovy (1549), the main early source on Russia in western Europe.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The title of the emperor of Russia (1555),^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) first adopted by Ivan IV in 1547.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The ''Times'' newspaper adopted the spelling ''tsar'' toward the end of the 19th century, and it became frequent in English.^(Etymonline) The transferred sense of a person with dictatorial power was first recorded in American English in 1866, of President Andrew Johnson.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) In modern American use a czar is often an official appointed to oversee a particular area of policy.^(AHD)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1547 – Ivan IV adopts the title.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1555 – the Russian emperor.^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1717 – ''czarina''.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1866 – a person with great power, first of Andrew Johnson.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1954 – ''czarist'', per Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A male [[emperor]] or king, especially one of the emperors of [[Russia]] before 1917.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A person with great power; an [[autocrat]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # An official appointed to regulate or oversee a particular area, as in ''drug czar''.^(AHD)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[czardom]]

+ * [[czarist]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tsar]]

+ * [[Caesar]]

+ * [[kaiser]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The American Heritage Dictionary notes that ''czar'' is the commonest form in American use and nearly the only one in the extended senses, while ''tsar'' is preferred by most Slavic scholars as a more accurate transliteration and is usual in scholarly writing about the Russian emperors.^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}