Note 134 — Chapter X · THE HERACLEOTIC CHERSONESE.

The title of Tzar, says Karamsin, was used in Russia as early as the reign of Ysiaslaf II. and Dmétri Donskoi (1363-1389). This word is not an abridgment of the Latin Cæsar, as some learned men have supposed. It is an ancient Eastern name, which became known to the Russians through the Slavonic translation of the Bible, and was given by them first to the Emperor of the East and then to the khans of the Tatars. It signifies in Persian “a throne,” “the supreme authority,” and is observed in the names of the kings of Assyria and Babylonia, as in Phalassar, Nabonassar. John III. (1462-1472), was the first grand prince who took the title of Tzar in writing to foreign powers, and in his public acts he gave to his empire the name of “White Russia,” that is to say, great or ancient, according to the acceptation of this word in Oriental languages.—Karamsin, vi. 438.

In one of the chronicles of Novgorod it is said that Vladimir assumed the title of Tzar, 978. “Sic unus (Vladimir) serum Russiæ politus, auxit se titulo Tzaris et magni ducis atque autocratoris Russorum, sedemque ducatus Novogordiensis Kioviam transtulit.”—M.S. quoted in the notes to French translation of Nestor.