Polkovnik

Common card · No. 320171

A polkovnik (Polish: pułkownik; Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian and Ukrainian: полковник, lit. 'regimentary') is a military rank used mostly in Slavic-speaking countries which corresponds to a colonel in English-speaking states, coronel in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking states and oberst in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries. It was originally a rank in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire. However, in Cossack Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine, polkovnyk was an administrative rank similar to a governor. Usually this word is translated as colonel, however the transliteration is also in common usage, for the sake of the historical and social context. Polkovnik began as a commander of a distinct group of troops (polk), arranged for battle. The exact name of this rank maintains a variety of spellings in different languages, but all descend from the Old Slavonic word polk (from Old East Slavic: пълъкъ, lit. 'regiment sized unit'), and include the following in...

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