Russian Grand Dukes - About The Grand Duke of Russia in Translated Contexts

About The Grand Duke of Russia in Translated Contexts

The title of sovereign Grand Duke and it as translation of Velikiy Knjaz have clearly different meanings. This occurs particularly in languages which do not have different words for prince (1) signifying the non-ruling relatives of a monarch, i.e. as a courtesy title, and (2) prince signifying a monarch (sovereign or like), i.e. as a substantive title, because there Grand Duke usually is (1) the established translation of the post-medieval courtesy title Velikiy Knjaz (literally: grand prince), and they are not sovereigns, but (2) several other post-medieval grand dukes are, being typically rulers of small states (such as Luxembourg). English and French use the title Grand Duke for both these purposes. In translations and such texts, (2) Grand Duke of Russia may also refer to some or all of the medieval reigning grand princes of the Kievan Rus' and its successor states.

Grand Duke is the usual and established translation in English and French of the Russian courtesy title Velikiy Knjaz (grand prince) of Russia, which from 17th century belonged to members of the family of the Russian tsar, although those Grand dukes were not sovereigns.

Note that a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess as a translation is thus not necessarily associated with a Grand Duchy; see the relevant articles for more information. These post-medieval Russian grand dukes are not associated with a grand duchy.

Any other translation of Velikiy Knjaz of Russia than Grand Duke is neither standard nor widely used in English nor in French. In German, however, a Russian Grand Duke is known as a Großfürst, and in Latin as Magnus Princeps.

A Russian Grand Duke or Grand Duchess was an Imperial Highness.

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