Polkovnik

Countries which use the Eastern European variant

Polkovnik (Polish: pułkownik; Russian: полковник, lit.'regimentary') is a military rank used mostly in Slavic-speaking countries which corresponds to a colonel in English-speaking states, coronel in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking states and oberst in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries. It was originally a rank in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire. However, in Cossack Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine, polkovnyk was an administrative rank similar to a governor. Usually this word is translated as colonel, however the transliteration is also in common usage, for the sake of the historical and social context. Polkovnik began as a commander of a distinct group of troops (polk), arranged for battle.[1]

The exact name of this rank maintains a variety of spellings in different languages, but all descend from the Old Slavonic word polk (literally: regiment sized unit), and include the following in alphabetical order:

  1. Belarusпалкоўнік
  2. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbiapukovnik (Bosnian: [pǔkoːʋniːk])
  3. Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Russia and Ukraineполковник (Russian: [pɐlˈkovnʲɪk] , Ukrainian: [polˈkɔu̯nɪk])
  4. Czech Republic and Slovakiaplukovník
  5. Polandpułkownik (Polish: [puwˈkɔvɲik] )
  6. Sloveniapolkovnik

It is also used in some non-Slavic languages:

  1. Azerbaijan - Polkovnik
  2. Georgiaპოლკოვნიკი (Georgian: [pʼolkʼovnikʼi])
  3. Latviapulkvedis
  4. Lithuaniapulkininkas


Lithuania (and likely Latvia) inherited the term from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The rank of polkovnik was also used in the Estonian army until 1924. Azerbaijan and Georgia inherited it from the Russian Empire.

  1. ^ Sławomir Kułacz, University of Gdańsk, Poland (2012). "Conceptualization of selected army ranks in English, German, Polish and Czech". UMCS Lublin: Studies in Modern Languages and Literature, vol. 36: 27. Retrieved 12 February 2016. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)