- czar
- 1555, from Rus. tsar, from Old Slavic tsesari, from Gothic kaisar, from Gk. kaisar, from L. Caesar. First adopted by Russian emperor Ivan IV, 1547.
The spelling with cz- is against the usage of all Slavonic languages; the word was so spelt by Herberstein, Rerum Moscovit. Commentarii, 1549, the chief early source of knowledge as to Russia in Western Europe, whence it passed into the Western Languages generally; in some of these it is now old-fashioned; the usual Ger. form is now zar; French adopted tsar during the 19th c. This also became frequent in English towards the end of that century, having been adopted by the Times newspaper as the most suitable English spelling. [OED]
The Gmc. form of the word also is the source of Finnish keisari, Estonian keisar. The transferred sense of "person with dictatorial powers" is first recorded 1866, Amer.Eng., initially in ref. to President Andrew Johnson. The fem. czarina is 1717, from It. czarina, from Ger. Zarin, fem. of Zar "czar." The Rus. fem. is tsaritsa. His son is tsarevitch, his daughter is tsarevna. - tsar
- 1670, the more correct Latinization of Rus. czar, from prehistoric Slavic *tsesar, from a Gmc. source, ultimately from L. Caesar. See czar.
- kopeck
- 1/100 of a ruble, from Rus. kopeika, from kop'e "lance" (cognate with Gk. kopis "chopper, cleaver"); so called because the coin showed the czar with lance in hand.
- telekinesis
- 1890, said to have been coined by Alexander N. Aksakof (1832-1903) Imperial Councilor to the Czar, in Mod.L., lit. "motion at a distance," from tele- + Gk. kinesis "movement, motion," from PIE base *kei- "to move to and fro" (see cite). Translates Ger. Fernwirkung.
- Caesar
- c.1200, see caesarian; O.E. had casere, which would have yielded modern *coser, but it was replaced in M.E. by keiser, from Norse or Low Ger., and later in M.E. by the French or Latin form of the name. Cæsar was used as a title of emperors down to Hadrian (138 C.E.), and also is the root of Ger. Kaiser and Rus. tsar (see czar). He competes as progenitor of words for "king" with Charlemagne (L. Carolus), as in Lithuanian karalius, Polish krol, Hungarian kiraly. In U.S. slang c.1900, a sheriff was Great Seizer.