Knyaz

Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English either as Prince or less commonly as Duke.

In the Vatican, some Croatian un-crowned rulers and kings, such as Duke Trpimir I and King Stjepan Držislav, were referred to as "Dux Croatorum" or "Dux Chroatorum". Historians usually translate the title Duke as "Knez", but it's still a subject of discussion since "Knez" is commonly used to designate a nobleman, but not a monarch i.e. a king.

Today the term knez is still used as the most common translation of "prince" in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian literature. Another translation is kraljević (Slovene: kraljevič) meaning "little king" or "kingly", such as Kraljević Marko, though this term is used to refer to a prince or princess of royal birth, son or daughter of a king. Knez is nowadays a very common surname in some ex-Yugoslavian countries, mostly in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, but also among immigrants in Slovenia and Bosnia

The female form transliterated from Bulgarian and Russian is knyaginya (княгиня), kniahynia (княгиня) in Ukrainian, kneginja in Slovene, Croatian and Serbian (Serbian Cyrillic: кнегиња). In Russian, the daughter of a knyaz is knyazhna (княжна), in Ukrainian is kniazivna (князівна). In Russian, the son of a knyaz is knyazhich (княжич) (old form).

The title is pronounced and written similarly in different European languages. In Croatian, Bosnian and West Slavic languages, such as Polish, and Serbian, the word has later come to denote "lord", and in Czech, Polish and Slovak also came to mean "priest" (kněz, ksiądz, kňaz) as well as "duke" (knez, kníže, książę, knieža).