The meaning of the word ataman. The meaning of the word ataman Who is the Cossack ataman

Who is the chieftain and what is the meaning of the word “chieftain” you will learn from this article.

Who is the chieftain?

Ataman is official elected person in the Zaporizhzhya Sich during the 16th - 18th centuries. Ataman headed the entire Sich organization or a separate military-administrative unit - the hut. If it happened that the ataman was not elected for separate reasons, but was appointed, for example, during a military campaign, then he was called the order ataman. In the Hetmanate, during the 17th - 18th centuries, there were also posts of city, village and centenary chieftains.

What does the word "ataman" mean?

The concept of ataman means "the father of people" from the Turkic language. Nomads used to call that the oldest representatives of their kind. There is also another version, according to which the word ataman comes from the German word "Harter Mann", which means "strong man." Since the 16th century, atamans began to be called the elective or appointed leader of the Cossack army.

Ataman is an elected person who heads the hut. He was in charge of the economy and means of smoking, solved absolutely all issues related to the life and life of the Cossacks.

The word "ataman" in our lexicon has existed for many centuries, even became a geographical toponym (Atamano-Vlasovka, Atamanovka, etc.); with the revival of the Cossacks, the word more and more actively enters into everyday speech, and it is all the more surprising that the origin of the word "ataman" still remains an unanswered question. In the most complete and serious study of the history of the Cossacks, in the 4-volume "History of the Cossacks" (Gordeev A.A.M., 1993), as the final, the "Mongolian" version of the origin of the word "ataman" is stated with reference to the "Etymological Dictionary" of Goryaev N. (Tiflis, 1896): “The highest command posts in the Cossack troops were occupied by the Mongols and the main military figure was temnik... Modern researchers derive the word "ataman" from the combination of two Mongolian words: ata- "dad or father" and dark, or temnik... From the compounds of these words came the name attamen, meaning "father-temnik". Among the armed forces of "Horde Rus", along with the national names of military leaders, the name of the supreme commander was gradually acquired. ata-temena, which in a slightly modified form turned into "chieftain". The name “hetman” had the same origin, with some change in pronunciation, due to the local dialect ”. M. Fasmer in his dictionary quotes the opinion of A. Preobrazhensky (1910-1918): “The explanation of the ataman from Turkic is completely unacceptable. Ata"Father" and tumen"10000" ". According to a number of other etymologists of the word wataman, chieftain like Polish hetman go back to him. hauptmann... This interpretation, as M. Vasmer notes, is fraught with phonetic difficulties, therefore Bruckner et al. Separate (c) the ataman “elder” from the group “ hetman». This is practically all existing opinions about the origin of the word "ataman". Therefore, first we will analyze the above considerations, and then we will continue the semantic analysis of the word. (V) chieftain, as everyone notes, the dialect variant of the word chieftain; "In" is a prosthetic consonant, as, for example, in the word "sharp" (sharp), so this version of the word does not interest us. The most surprising thing about the "Mongolian version" is that it is absolutely not confirmed by anything. The fact is that in the Mongolian language "father" is ecege, eceg, "Horse" - sea, meren(oirat.), agt(Kalm.), the last word is easily explained by the Turkic influence. Word tumen in the meaning of "many, darkness, cloud, 10,000" is borrowed by the Russian, Turkic, Mongolian languages ​​from Iranian, where the word fog has very specific meanings - 1 000 dinars and division (modern). Turkic military rank "temnik", in Persian it will be myrtuman, a very high military rank, in terms of rank it is much higher than the rank of "chieftain"; Timur, at the head of 1,000 horsemen, appointed not only worthy, but also noble people - emirs and murzas. The ataman could not apply for a general's position, in modern language, therefore attumen- He could not become a "father of tumen". But, as a matter of fact, this is not the point at all. Ataman and hetman- words of different origins, although there is some semantic similarity between them. Phonetically, they are united only by the formant "man", which is widespread throughout the whole Oikumene and is part of the most unexpected and different words. For example, lake. Man (Manych from the 16th century), lake. Liman (Lake Geneva), about. Mans in the Irish Sea (the last refuge of the Celts). Word formation with the form "man", according to authoritative experts, stopped in historical time, and the question of the origin of the affix is ​​still open. But we are interested in this formant in one meaning, in this case, in the meaning of the agent: dushman(Turkic) - "enemy, enemy"; Turkmen; mankurt("Man-death", Chingiz Aitmatov); mardoman- "people, people", etc. Let us remember what is in it. and in English. this word means "man, man." « Hetman, the word is borrowed through Polish from East. Wed German "Hauptmann" (modern captain) (M. Fasmer). The word belongs to the semantic row - "chief, leader" - hauptmann(German), headman(English), sarcor(ir.); kurbashi(Turkic), where, respectively, head- "haupt, head, sar, bash." The word "chieftain" refers to another semantic series, namely, "horsemen". The word "rider" can be formed in different ways, namely, according to the principle of "centaur" - "horse-man", as, for example, in English "khos-men" or in Hungarian "lo-vas" or with other Indus. "As-man"; or with the help of affixes, as, for example, in Russian or Spanish - "ko-n-nik", "kobal-yero", or in Türkic. "At-chi, at-ly, at-lik" ... And, of course, words of ancient origin, the etymology of which is difficult, such as savr, savar, suvori, amazon, rider, chavandoz etc. Let's continue the analysis. At(Turkic) - "horse", therefore atman- "rider"; the word, of course, is of little use, but we find evidence of its existence in toponymy - in the Kherson region there is the village of Atmanai (v. Horsemen), known to historical literature only due to the fact that the famous burial in the High Grave mound was uncovered nearby. North of Tambov there is the village of Atmanov Ugol, and it is not known how many Atmanovoks over time became more understandable Atamanovks. Undoubtedly, the original form of the word "ataman" was the word "atman", and it is possible that with the appearance of the concept "ataman" the word "atman" began to fall out of use, since there was no shortage of synonyms. Let's pay attention to the closeness of such words in the Turkic languages ​​as: ata- "father", attach- "father" (affectionate) and atchi, atman- "rider"; and in Russian: ko-gan, ko-n-ide, ko-n-nick, ko-mon("... the komoni laugh at Sula ..."), where NS- perhaps the oldest form for "horse", as in the Magyar language lo- "horse, horse". It is enough to look into the dictionaries of the Germanic languages ​​to understand - the basis ko-nigov and ko-nung was borrowed from the Slavic languages, and not vice versa, as is commonly believed. As the word "prince" ultimately came from "horse", so "chieftain" probably has a similar origin. For a person with a native Turkic language, the word "ataman" sounds either funny - at-aman(yaman) - "bad horse", or it is not clear - ata-man _ "Father is a man". Perhaps the word appeared as an intermediate Turkic atatman- "the leader of the horsemen, the father of the horsemen", and later very quickly turned into contamination into ataman... In other words chieftain- this is a "prince", but with a lower rank. If the word "hetman" allows a literal translation, then the word "ataman" is no longer there. Literal translation is not possible because the word was born in a bilingual - Russian-Turkic environment. The word is Türkic in form, but in Türkic languages ​​it is known as "russism". In the "Tale of Timur-Aksak" XIV-XV centuries. the chronicler wrote: “And when there were up to a hundred of them, they called him their ataman, when there were up to a thousand of them, then already prince his name was. " Therefore, knowing the scale of the war that Stepan Timofeevich Razin waged with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, we should not be surprised by Razin's demand to call him publicly and in writing nothing other than "prince, Stepan Razin, chieftain." (

Cossack chieftains were key participants in all the wars of the Russian Empire. Their role is often underestimated, but the most important events in the history of Russia are associated with their names.

1. Ermak

Oh, despite the scale of this figure, we do not know very much. We do not even know the exact place of his birth. Yermak was in the people's minds a kind of semi-legendary character, a “people's defender”. In the Kungur Chronicle it is said about him that he robbed and plundered on the Oka in a crowd of 5,000 people, then on the Volga, already with 7,000 Cossacks, then he wanted to go to Persia ...
We also do not know how Yermak died. One thing is certain: there was no "chain mail and fur coat from the tsar's shoulder" on Ermak. Ivan the Terrible had previously granted Yermak cloth and gold, and ordered Yermak to return.

2. Mikhail Cherkashenin

Ataman Cherkashenin with his Cossacks made a huge contribution to the victory when the troops of Devlet-Giray were defeated. This was a key moment in Russian history - if Russia, weakened by the Livonian War and the plague, lost, it would change the course of history.
Cherkashenin was one of the main chieftains of the times of Ivan the Terrible, he participated in the defense of Polotsk and Pskov from the troops. There were legends about his bravery. It was believed that the chieftain was spellbound by bullets, and even the chronicler recorded that he was talking enemy cannonballs. The chronicler wrote about the death of the ataman: “Yes, they immediately killed Mishka Cherkashenin, and guessed to himself that he would be killed, and Pskov would be whole. And that is what he told the governors. "

3. Kondraty Bulavin

Ataman Kondraty Bulavin was very dissatisfied with the fact that the Cossacks were forbidden to extract salt in the Bakhmut fields and that Peter I issued a decree on the forcible return of fugitive peasants, so in 1707 he gathered an army and went to fight with the tsar. The so-called "Bulavin uprising" lasted for two whole years, in 1708 Bulavin was killed as a result of a conspiracy, but the uprising did not subside. Their leadership passed to Ignat Nekrasov.

4. Ignatiy Nekrasov

He took the leadership of the uprising for Bulavin, gathered a Cossack circle, but a single decision on further measures was never made. Nekrasov's troops were eventually defeated by the tsars and he first, which at that time was on the territory of the Crimean Khanate, and then completely moved to Turkey.

The transition of the Ignatov Cossacks under the Turkish banners was recorded by Pushkin: “From the side of the Turks, spears were seen, which they had never had before; these spears were Russian: the Nekrasovites fought in their ranks. "

5. Yakov Baklanov

In the Cossack songs dedicated to Baklanov, the "terrible Baklanov blow" is mentioned - Yakov Petrovich was known for cutting a rider with a sword in half from the shoulder to the bow of the saddle.
Hero of the Caucasian War, Baklanov was the first to make a black cloth flag with his personal banner, on which was depicted a skull with crossed bones and a circular inscription from the "Symbol of Faith": "Tea for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. Amen". This banner acted on the mountaineers in the most decisive way.
One of the eyewitnesses wrote: “Wherever the enemy saw this terrible banner, fluttering high in the hands of the giant-donor, like a shadow following its commander, there was also the monstrous image of Baklanov, and inseparable from it the inevitable defeat and death of everyone who fell on ways ".

6. Naum Vasiliev

At the ataman Naum Vasiliev (Sheludyaki), we do not know either the date of birth or the date of death, but we know that he was the ataman of the Don army, in 1637 he participated in the capture of Azov, led his defense against the Turkish-Tatar troops and from time to time led sorties ... Sheludyak traveled several times to Moscow as the ataman of the Cossack village with the news of the detention of Azov by the Cossacks. In 1656, the ataman took part in the assault on Azov, but this time it was not possible to take him.

7. Ivan Galkin

Ivan Galkin was the founder of the Ilimsky, Ust-Kutsky and Barguzinsky forts.
Galkin can also be considered one of the founders of Yakutsk. Under him, on February 6, 1638, the Yakutsk Voivodeship was established, independent of the Yenisei. Yakutsk first received the status of the capital.

8. Epifan Rodilov

Despite the fact that Epifan Rodilov was “dismissed” from the post of the ataman several times, the fame of him thundered and he became the ataman again. He took part in several assaults of Azov, and in the spring of 1627 Rodilov led the sea campaign of the united detachment of the Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks on the coast of Turkey. A Cossack flotilla suddenly appeared in the vicinity of Istanbul. They broke into the Golden Horn Bay and set fire to the standing Turkish warships and merchant ships. In the Turkish capital, the Cossacks "made a lot of rustle", after which they disappeared as quickly as they appeared. But already in decent prey.

9. Zakhary Chepega

Zakhary Chepega, the Cossack chieftain of the Black Sea Cossack army, was an unusual Cossack: he had a house, he had serfs, but Chepega rarely visited this house - he fought more and more. The Black Sea Cossacks under his command especially distinguished themselves in the capture of Ochakov, the fortified island of Berezan, Hajibey, Ackerman, Bender. In 1790, the Cossacks showed incomparable courage during the assault on Izmail.
Chepega also took an active part in the resettlement of the Black Sea Cossacks to the Kuban (to protect the border), and in the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1794. For the successful assault on the outskirts of Warsaw - Prague - Chepega was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir 2nd class.

10. Mikhail Tatarinov

The name of the ataman Mikhail Tatarinov went down in Russian history - under his leadership, the Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks in 1637 besieged and took the fortress of Azov.
About 4000-4500 people took part in this campaign (of which there were one thousand Zaporozhye Cossacks).
After the capture of Azov, the Tatarinov asked the Moscow Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich to take the Turkish Azov under his rule, but the Tsar refused - he did not want a war with the Ottoman Empire. The famous "Azov sitting" began among the Cossacks.

11. Matvey Platov

Army chieftain of the Donskoy army, count, cavalry general, hero of the war of 1812. The most famous chieftain not only on the Don, but throughout Russia and in the world. Hero of the Russian wars of the late 18th - early 19th centuries. It was Platov who headed the Indian campaign conceived by Paul the First, it was Platov who obeyed all the Cossack formations abroad during the war with Napoleon, it was Platov who traveled to London with the emperor to conclude peace.

The Don Cossack became a living legend for the British. Eyewitnesses of those events said that once the crowd after the divine service carried Platov out of the church in their arms and carried him to the carriage itself. The visit of the chieftain to the theaters suspended the performance. The fashion for the Cossacks in London began, as the British began to call themselves. Including the famous Lord Byron once said: "And I am a Cossack!"

12. Ivan Zarutsky

Zarutsky is a figure in Russian history that is far from unambiguous, but this makes him even more ambitious. He was the favorite of Marina Mnishek in 1608-1614 and the most likely real father of her son, Ivan Lzhedmitrievich Vorenok. It was him that Ivan Zarutsky saw on the Russian throne.
However, it did not work out. Zarutsky's forces were not enough to provide worthy resistance in the Astrakhan Kremlin, and in May 1614, with Marina Mnishek and her son, he fled to Yaik, where he took refuge on Bear Island, but was captured there after the battle.
On July 6, 1614, Zarutsky was brought to Astrakhan, and from there, together with Marina Mnishek and her son, he was sent to Moscow. "In Moscow I put tovo Zarutskovo on a stake, and hang Vorenka, and Marina will die in Moscow"

13. Korniliy Yakovlev

The life of Korniliy Yakovlev is definitely worthy of adaptation. The fact that the ataman was the godfather of Stepan Razin and his main opponent will add drama to its plot. It was Yakovlev who managed to defeat the godson and take him prisoner. Ataman faithfully served the tsar and it was from him that the Cossack tradition began to swear allegiance to the new sovereign.

14. Stepan Razin

Legendary person. Ataman Stepan Razin supported his mythology. So, Razin spread a rumor about himself that the heir to the tsar Alexei Alekseevich (actually deceased) and the disgraced Patriarch Nikon were following with his army. The first two ships from those sailing along the Volga were covered with red and black cloth: on the first there was supposedly a prince, on the second - Nikon. Razin's agitation policy was so successful that the tsar even interrogated Nikon about his connection with the rioters.
We know how it all ended. Razin was publicly executed.

15. Pavel Grabbe

Ataman Pavel Grabbe became famous during the Caucasian War by taking the unapproachable stronghold of the mountaineers - the Akhulgo fortress, where Shamil's residence was. The fortress was located on steep cliffs and was surrounded on three sides by a river. On June 12, 1839, Akhulgo was besieged by a 13,000-strong Russian detachment under the command of Lieutenant General Grabbe. Akhulgo was defended by about 2 thousand highlanders. After a 70-day siege, Akhulgo was taken. Russian troops lost 500 killed and 2500 wounded; mountaineers about 2000 killed and captured.

The first and unfortunately not preserved panorama of Franz Roubaud "Storming Aul Akhulgo" was dedicated to the capture of the aul, which was considered impregnable.

16. Alexey Kaledin

On February 11, 1918, the famous hero of the First World War, Ataman Kaledin fired a shot that largely determined history. After the February Revolution, Kaledin on the Don opposed the destruction of the army, for the first time in 300 years he was elected by the Cossacks themselves on the Army Circle. After October, Kaledin opposed the Bolsheviks and the Soviets on the Don. Under him, the creation of the Volunteer Army and the entire White movement began in Novocherkassk. In 1918, the chieftain was unable to mobilize the Cossacks, and after a meeting of the Don government he shot himself. But after his shot the Civil War on the Don took on a new form - a mass struggle against Soviet power.

For a long time Ataman Semyonov was an "enemy of the people" and one of the main villains of Soviet propaganda. This is not surprising - for the Bolsheviks he was not only a military enemy, but also an ideological enemy. Semenov became the author of the idea of ​​"Rossism" - an ideological aspiration cementing Russian society, opposite to communism. In 1938 he even wrote the theses of "Rossism".

Despite the nationalist sentiments, Ataman Semyonov followed the principle of cosmopolitanism in his troops. So, he even created a Jewish infantry regiment. Sending his multinational Cossacks to the First World War, Semenov wrote: "Awaken the conscience of a Russian soldier, who would have these foreigners fighting for the Russian cause as a living reproach."

19. Ivan Krasnoshchekov

The fame of the ataman Krasnoshchekov thundered among the people. Many Cossack songs and poems have been composed about Krasnoshchekov. Even in his youth, he became famous as a brave "guller", that is, a hunter before raids from the Don to the neighboring lands of the Tatars, Nogai and Trans-Kuban mountaineers. Cossack legends pass on to posterity about Krasnoshchekov's martial feat with the Circassian hero Ovchar, whom he killed and, having taken possession of his horse, bred the “shepherd” breed of horses on the Don. In 1740, the first Don Cossack was awarded the rank of brigadier.

20. Peter Krasnov

Due to cooperation with the Third Reich, he remained in history as a traitor ataman, but Peter Nikolaevich was an extraordinary personality. He has written over 20 books. In Germany, during the Great Patriotic War, Peter Krasnov, already in old age, spoke from an anti-Russian position. In 1944, in Postdam, he said: “Cossacks! Remember, you are not Russians, you are Cossacks, an independent people. The Russians are hostile to you. Moscow has always been the enemy of the Cossacks. She crushed them and exploited them. Now the hour has come when we, the Cossacks, can create our own life independent of Moscow. "
On January 16, 1947, Pyotr Krasnov was executed in Moscow.

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Therefore, it is not surprising that the Don Cossacks continued to call their chiefs atamans. The main leader of the entire Don Army was called the military chieftain. He was elected by the military circle - the people's assembly of the entire Cossack army. At these public gatherings in an open area, the Cossacks really made a circle, standing without hats as a sign of respect for the place and the occasion. Elections were held annually and were decided by a majority vote. Often there was a struggle between parties in the elections, which, among this unbridled freemen, often ended in a bloody clash of the bitter parties.

To help the military chieftain, a military clerk, two military esauls, and a military clerk were also elected to conduct the writing unit. The military chieftain was only the executive body of the military circle, he had no independent power. The guardian of order and executor of decisions of the circle, on his own initiative, he could not and did not dare to undertake anything, otherwise he was threatened with shameful deprivation of office, and sometimes severe execution.

The military chieftain usually reported in the circle of the case and raised questions that required the decision of the entire army, for which he, together with his esauls, went to the middle of the circle, but this was not his exclusive right: any Cossack could speak in the middle and propose questions to the people's court. The voice of the chieftain was equal to the voice of any other Cossack: he had weight only insofar as he was supported by the personal valor of the chieftain and the respect that the army had for him. Having resigned his rank at the end of the election period, the ataman entered the total number of the army and did not differ in any way from ordinary Cossacks. At the end of the 16th century, private administrations in towns began to take shape on the model of this general military command. Any Cossack community that lived in towns or winter huts, and was equally sent somewhere (for example, to Moscow for the tsar's salary), was called a stanitsa and had its own stanitsa ataman.

But the Cossacks did not call their chiefs and officials alone atamans; every gallant Cossack, who stood out for his prowess and courage, was honored by the ataman. Ataman is the color of the Cossacks, the upper class of the army, but it was not a closed class: the right to be called ataman was not given by birth, but was acquired by personal valor and glory. This meaning of the word "ataman" explains the formulas of the royal letters sent to the Don. So, for example, during the reign of John Vasilyevich and Feodor Ioannovich in the letters (after the title) they wrote: "to the Don Don atamans and Cossacks" or even "to the Don Don atamans (their names follow) and all atamans and Cossacks." The same meaning of the word "ataman" was reflected in the sayings "from the rank and file to the atamans", "endure the Cossack, you will become the ataman" in the traditional address to the Cossacks "Atamans are great!"

But over time, things changed: a whole class of atamans arose on the Don, sharply separated from the people and ordinary Cossacks. However, along with this, the word "chieftain" both in the sense of a boss and an official, and in the sense of a simply noble Cossack, begins to be replaced by the word "foreman". For the first time the name of the foreman was mentioned in 1649 in the report of the nobleman Andrei Lazarev to the Ambassadorial Prikaz, where this word is used instead of "ataman". Further, in the testimony given in the Ambassadorial order to the village atamans Kozma Dmitriev, who came from the Don to Moscow in 1655, among other things, it is said that the chief of the Cossacks on the sea voyage was Sergeant Major Pavel Neskochikhin. After that, the name of the foreman is very often found in acts, which meant the same as the chieftain. Since 1680, the name "ataman" is very rarely found in acts, except for letters alone, in which they usually wrote: "to the Don in the lower and upper yurts to the atamans and Cossacks, the military ataman (such and such) and the entire Don army"; in the reports to the Ambassadorial order of various officials who were on the Don, the atamans were always called foremen.

Under Peter I, the name of the foreman became so common that the Don Army itself, in its reports to the sovereign, called noble people foremen: “and we, having chosen in a circle, - the Cossacks reported to the sovereign in 1705, - foreman Maxim Frolov, Vasily the Great Pozneev, Efrem Petrov and others ... ". From modern acts, it is not clear at what time the name of the elders turned into the title of estate and rank. Presumably, this followed in the middle of the 17th century, when the number of Cossacks increased significantly, permanent and extensive villages arose, rich and poor appeared, luxury and ambition penetrated the Cossack environment.

Atamans and foremen, as the leading class of the army, naturally had an advantage over other Cossacks, distinguished by wealth and intelligence, and therefore they gradually appropriated for themselves the advantages associated with a temporary position, and put themselves in a position that sharply distinguished them from the entire army. The power and importance of the foremen increased as the Cossack liberties were limited; soon after the accession to the throne of Peter I, they gradually concentrated in their hands the rights of the circle.

This was facilitated by various circumstances, but mainly the continuous equipping of the Cossack detachments into the Moscow army under the command of foremen and the appointment of a military chieftain by the power of the sovereign. The elevation to the rank of foremen depended on the army, it also deprived of this dignity for crimes, but in 1754 it was forbidden for the Don Army to be promoted to foreman without being represented in the military collegium. Along with the emergence of a separate class of elders, the power of the military chieftain expanded and strengthened. From the second half of the 17th century. he is already the direct leader of the Cossacks in the days of peace and battle. He took over all sorts of matters of internal management and foreign relations, which until then were conducted only by the military circle: he dealt with litigations, defended from offenders, divided the royal salary between the Cossacks, received Turkish, Tatar and Kalmyk ambassadors, conducted preliminary negotiations with them and only the final decision was passed on to the judgment of the circle.

The post of the military ataman remained elective until 1718, the military clerk P.E. Romazanov (? - 1718) was elected and appointed (appointed) ataman of the Great Don Army (-), and since then she was replaced by appointment from the government, that is atamans were no longer elected. The first military chieftain appointed by the tsarist decree was Vasily Frolov, after his death in 1723 his sergeant-major Andrey Lapatin was appointed, in 1735 Ivan Frolov was appointed, in 1738 - Danilo Efremov. Since that time, the appointment of military troops has depended on the highest authority. The military chieftains, as a sign of their dignity from time immemorial, carried in their hands a "notch" (stones were called

Finally, an ataman is generally called a senior in business, for example, a fishing ataman - the temporary head of fishing on the Ural River. In constant seaside fishing, the artel or gang also elects an ataman (watamman). This is the main manager of the work: “without the chieftain, the duvan will not be blown away,” that is, the booty will not be divided. In this very sense of the head of a fishing party, a fishing gang, the word "vatamman" (watagaman, ataman) was first mentioned in the Novgorod letters of the 13th century. In the Little Russian and Novorossiysk Territories, the name of the chieftain is the village foreman, the headman, also the senior shepherd or shepherd, the large fishing gang, etc.

The phrase "Be patient, Cossack, you will be ataman!" has long been winged. When pronouncing it, we do not really think about the meaning of words, although we put the meaning in it correctly. Many associate the leader of the free Cossacks with military honor, valor and courage, but is everything so simple with this title? Is the chieftain a noble voivode or is it a dashing robber? Let's take a look at this issue.

Who are the chieftains?

This term has several definitions, each of which quite justifiably conveys the essence of the kind of affairs that a person called ataman has to deal with. First of all, he is the leader of the Cossacks, who replaces his father not only in everyday "domestic" affairs, but also during military exploits. Moreover, ataman is an elective, practically democratic position, dashing soldiers independently and at their own discretion choose their leader, and in case of dissatisfaction with their own decision after a certain time, they can deprive him of the right to be their representative.

But there is another meaning as to what the "chieftain" is. The definition given in explanatory dictionaries says that this person is the head of bandits, mercenaries and robbers. In this vein, the word takes on a rather negative connotation, and the chieftain himself is not associated with either a brave person or a brave one. The gangster leader in the subconscious of the majority is not a just Robin Hood, but on the contrary - an unprincipled Nightingale the robber, who, in order to achieve his goals and methods, does not hesitate to use any means, is ready to transgress all concepts of honor and nobility.

Rogue Soul

In fact, it is so, the chieftain is the one who is in charge of a group of people who have fled from the generally accepted legal system. At one time, when the very concept of the Cossacks was just emerging, as well as during the heyday of this page in the history of our state, people from this social class were not a military unit subordinate to the commander-in-chief (tsar or governor). They belonged to themselves, obeyed only their elder, who was guided in actions according to the principle "who pays the most, we serve him."

The Cossacks were mostly bandits, gathered in scattered groups that did not cooperate with each other for a long time, on the contrary, they shared spheres of influence. Ataman (the definition sounds like the head of a robber group or an irregular military formation) gathered his subordinates as needed. He was responsible for providing the gang with food and weapons, was involved in tactical planning and, in general, was its "brain".

Military rank

The chieftain of the Cossack detachment is the leader of a military unit. Its number could be different, so the atamans were divided not only into the well-known kurens and koshes (we will tell you about these titles in more detail), but also on the marching, detachment, order. There were also divisions into leaders responsible for specific areas of activity, for example, the Lisitsky ataman is the person who was in charge of hunting, the cossack one was responsible for trade, and the school one taught the Cossacks the basics of science and literacy.

A very capacious meaning of the word "chieftain" is acquired along with the prefixes "wintering", "stanichny", "settlement". Such leaders were responsible for the administrative-territorial unit entrusted to them, as well as its inhabitants. In addition to direct recruiting, such chieftains were involved in resolving conflict situations, collecting money, including from retail outlets located in the territory entrusted to them.

This man possessed not only judicial power and could judge the quarreling Cossacks, but also executive, so he could physically punish his subordinate, who, rather, can be called a ward, because the soldiers could, at their discretion, both choose their leader and “fire” him ... In a combat situation, submission to the chieftain was unquestioning, the Cossacks followed their "father" and were ready to lay their heads on the battlefield for him.

From north to south

They knew who the chieftain was in many territories. This position is most often observed among the Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks. But they were not the first to call their leader so. The first mention of atamans is in historical documents of the thirteenth century, the later officially approved "ataman" was Carsten Rode, which is surprising, because he was a sailor. Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1570 issued him a privateering license in the waters of the Baltic Sea, it clearly indicated that Karsten was awarded the title of chieftain of the ship and his crew.

However, this term is still more applicable precisely to the ground commanders who were related to the Cossacks. Atamans were in such power structures:

• Zaporozhye Cossack army.
• Black Sea Cossack army.
• Don Cossack army.
• Novgorod chiefs of city guards.

Note that in the Ukrainian language this title is written and sounds a little differently, namely, as "otaman", which is incorrect from the point of view of etymology, because then the word loses its roots of origin.

Origin of the word

What is "ataman" will help to clarify the parsing of the word, and the translation of its individual parts from the original language. The most common version of the origin is considered to be the transfiguration from the Germanic dialects of the words atta and mann. The first can be interpreted as "father", and the second - "husband", "knight". United together, both parts give rise to the term "chieftain", which very well explains the essence of this military rank, because it is translated as "father of warriors."

There is another opinion, according to which the ancestor of this word is one of the names of the Ottoman Empire, which was also called the Ottoman. Zaporozhye Cossacks did not always defend the borders of their state. Their first formations did not disdain to sell their services to the Crimean khans, some were henchmen of the sovereign of the Golden Horde. Perhaps this was the reason to believe that the word "chieftain" has an oriental origin.

Our answer to the Amazons

Usually the chieftain was called the wife of the leader of the Cossacks or robbers, however, there were those ladies in history who rightfully bore such a title, being real warriors. One of the most desperate was Maria Nikiforova, better known as Marusya.

The girl was the daughter of a military man, perhaps this left a strong imprint on her life views and values. When she was very young, she joined the anarchists, at first she took part in agitation activities, then gathered a whole team of like-minded people around her.

Even before she came of age (21 years old), she was engaged in terrorist activities, was involved in robberies, murders and robberies, for which the official authorities were sentenced to death, which, however, was not put into effect, replacing them with indefinite exile to hard labor.

She managed to escape from there, and again take up her dark business. The Marusya detachment operated in different territories and was always in the thick of the events of the Civil War. The girl partly obeyed the Makhnovists, helped the Bolsheviks as well, but in the end she was never able to engage in any constructive activity. According to one of the versions, Marusya was still shot when a mass purge of unreliable and dangerous elements in the new, communist society began.

Cossack father

As we have already said, chieftains are subdivided into kurens and koshes. The former were less significant in terms of their sphere of influence, but this statement is rather controversial. There were 38 people with this rank in the Sich, each of them had a kuren under his command. The ataman, who was also called kurenniy, was chosen by the Cossacks themselves, it was either a former voivode, or an ordinary employee. The main thing is that his persona should satisfy the majority of the community members. No one else could influence the election process, it would always be exclusively “his” person who was respected, respected and listened to.

The ataman received a salary. At that time, when the Cossack army was subordinate to the imperial power, it was 27 rubles, and the soldiers (voluntarily and at their own discretion) shared part of the booty with them. The attitude to the kurens was so trusting and "filial" that the Cossacks could go for him even against the will of the highest ranked voivode and, conversely, at the request of their immediate leader, they endured temporary difficulties and hardships.

Koshevoy chieftain

A man with such a rank was the head of the camp; not only the Cossacks themselves, but also the kurens, clerk, esaul, and judge were subordinate to him. Like the chieftain of the kuren, the koshevoy was also elected in the Rada, where he had to give an annual report on his activities. Possessing almost unlimited powers, he had to constantly confirm his own right to them.