Etymology
The etymology is ultimately a cognate of the English king, the German König, and the Swedish konung. The proto-Slavic form was kǔningǔ, kъnędzь, Bulgarian knyaz, East-Slavic knyaz, Polish ksiądz, Serbian "кнез", Croatian and Slovene knez, Bosnian knjez, Czech kníže etc., as it could be a very early borrowing from the already extinct Proto-Germanic Kuningaz, a form also borrowed by Finnish and Estonian (Kuningas).
In Finnish knyaz is translated more like the word ruhtinas ("Sovereign Prince"). Ruhtinas comes from proto-Germanic word druhtinaz, what can be translated as "warlord". In Finland tsar was officially called as suuriruhtinas after the Grand Principality of Finland. Suuriruhtinas in English means "grand prince", in Russian velikiy knyaz.
Read more about this topic: Knyaz
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