Cossacks - a dictionary of terms

Ataman - an elected leader of the Cossacks. See more here.

Bashlyk - round-topped felt bonnet, with lappets. Was popular among the Cossacks and in the Caucasus. The prototypes of bashlyk can be seen on the decoration of the Scythian vases.

Bulava - a mace, originally was used as a weapon and later became a symbol of authority of the ataman.

Bunchuk - a standard that was in use among the Turkic people. Bunchuk consisted of a staff with a horizontal bar on the top, decorated with horsetails. Dnieper Cossacks adopted it as a symbol of the kosh ataman or hetman authority.

Bunchuzhnyj - the standard-bearer (see bunchuk), one of the senior officials in the Cossack hierarchy.

Burkha - a felt raincoat popular among the peoples of Caucasus and the Cossacks. Burkha was part of the uniform of the Cossack cavalry in the second half of 19-th century and beginning of the 20-th century.

Esaul - a Cossack officer rank, equal to the captain in the infantry (from Turkic "yasaul" - "head", "chief")

Khorunzhiy - a Cossack officer rank.

Kosh - a Cossack encampment or settlement (from the Turkic word meaning "camp", "troop" or "a group of yurts").

Kuren' - a set of stanitsa's, stanitsa or sometimes Cossack (from the Turkic word meaning "tribe", "company", "crowd").

Pernach - a mace used by the Host Atamans as a symbol of authority. Originally it was a weapon, eventually became a regalia.

Pisar' - a senior official responsible for managing the ataman's correspondence, preparation of the decrees and many other tasks assigned by the ataman.

Polk - regiment.

Polkovnik - colonel, commander of a regiment.

Reyestr - the Dnieper Cossacks that were registered for the service to the Polish crown. The Registered Cossacks had status similar to the Polish gentry.

Sotnik - captain of a company (from "sotnya" - "hundred")

Yurt - land belonging to the Cossack stanitsa.

The dictionary will be updated as time permits.

spm111@yandex.ru