Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/cěsařь

Vocalism of the initial syllable is uncertain. Attested forms point to the reconstructions *cěsařь, *cesařь and *cьsařь. The first two are attested in OCS and CS. CS additionally contains attestations for cьsarь and carь in Russian, Serbian and Bulgarian Church Slavonic. The form *cьsařь has been explained as a common shortening of a form of address for persons; compare Old English cyng (“king”) next to cyning, English miss from mistress.

Reflexes of *cěsařь are attested in the NW parts of Slavdom. The form *cesařь underpins the Western South Slavic forms, whereas the Bulgarian and Russian CS forms reflect *cьsařь.

This variation could come from two reasons:

• the term was borrowed late, when Common Slavic had already begun disintegrating into different dialects
• the term was borrowed multiple times

Ultimately from Latin Caesar, the name of Julius Caesar, whose name became part of the Roman emperor's title. The name was borrowed into Germanic separately as Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌰𐍂 (kaisar) and as Northwest Germanic *kaisaraz. Slavic in turn borrowed the word from Germanic, although the precise donor language is difficult to ascertain.

The most commonly regarded etymon cited in the literature is Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌰𐍂 (kaisar). Old High German and Old Saxon forms with the suffix -ur are less plausible etymons.

*cěsãřь m^[1][2]

1. emperor, king

• *cesařь
• *cьsařь (unaccented *e reduced to *ь)
• *cařь (< *csařь /tsːaːrʲi/, unaccented *ь dropped from *cьsařь /tsisaːrʲi/)

• *cěsařevьskъ, *cěsařьskъ (“imperial”)
• *cěsařevьstvo, *cěsařьstvьje (“empire”)
• *cěsařica (“empress”)

For forms *cěsařь and *cesařь:

• East Slavic:
  • Old East Slavic: цѣсарь (cěsarĭ), цесарь (cesarĭ)
    • Belarusian: цэ́сар (césar)
    • Russian: це́сарь (césarʹ), царь (carʹ) (see there for further descendants)
    • Ukrainian: цісар (cisar), цесар (cesar)
• South Slavic:
  • Old Church Slavonic:

    Old Cyrillic script: цѣсар҄ь (cěsarʹĭ), цар҄ь (carʹĭ)

    Glagolitic script: ⱌⱑⱄⰰⱃ҄ⱐ (cěsarʹĭ), ⱌⰰⱃ҄ⱐ (carʹĭ)

  • Bulgarian: цар (car)
  • Macedonian: цар (car), цесар (cesar) (literary)
  • Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: це̏сар, ца̏р

    Latin script: cȅsar, cȁr

    • → Slovene: cār (tonal orthography)
  • Slovene: césar (tonal orthography)
• West Slavic:
  • Kashubian: césôrz, cysôrz, cesôrz
  • Old Czech: ciesař
    • Czech: císař
      • → Slovak: cisár
  • Old Polish: cesarz
    • Polish: cesarz
    • Silesian: cysŏrz

• → Hungarian: császár

• Vasmer, Max (1964–1973) “царь”, in Oleg Trubachyov, transl., Этимологический словарь русского языка [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language] (in Russian), Moscow: Progress
• Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia E. (2013) The Germanic loanwords in Proto-Slavic‎^[2], Amsterdam - New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 99ff
• Gluhak, Alemko (1993) “Proto-Slavic/cěsařь”, in Hrvatski etimološki rječnik [Croatian Etymology Dictionary] (in Serbo-Croatian), Zagreb: August Cesarec, →ISBN, page 159
• Skok, Petar (1971) “Proto-Slavic/cěsařь”, in Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika [Etymological Dictionary of the Croatian or Serbian Language] (in Serbo-Croatian), volumes 1 (A – J), Zagreb: JAZU, page 258
• Sławski, Franciszek, editor (1976), “*cěsařь”, in Słownik prasłowiański [Proto-Slavic Dictionary] (in Polish), volume 2 (caca – davьnota), Wrocław: Ossolineum, page 82
• Vykypěl, Bohumil (2011) Studie k šlechtickým titulům v germánských, slovanských a baltských jazycíc, Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, pages 117ff