esaul

English

Alternative forms

• osaul
• yesaul

Etymology

From Russian есау́л (jesaúl), Ukrainian осаву́л (osavúl). Ultimately from Middle Mongol ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠭᠤᠯ (ǰasaɣul).

Noun

esaul (plural esauls)

1. (now historical) The head of a group or unit of Cossacks.
   • 1833, The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume 11, page 394:

     Some four months after this event, a smart Yesaul, at the head of a party of Kozaks, on the high road to Nishnei Novogorod perceives a poor fellow resting himself upon a bank.

   • 1926, Nicolai Gogol, translated by Constance Garnett, A Terrible Revenge:

     ‘There is no order in the Ukraine: the colonels and the esauls quarrel like dogs: there is no chief over them all.’

   • 2011, Allan Mallinson, On His Majesty's Service, page 122:

     When Hervey had first learned what was the strength of the garrison, he asked the esaul, the Cossacks' captain. why there was only a squadron (sotnia) of them, two hundred lances […].

Translations

(now historical) the head of a group or unit of Cossacks

• Azerbaijani: yasavul
• Belarusian: есаву́л m (jesavúl)
• Georgian: იასაული (iasauli)
• Greek: γιεσαούλ m (giesaoúl)
• Russian: есау́л (ru) m (jesaúl)
• Ukrainian: осаву́л m (osavúl)

Anagrams

• EULAs, Laues, saule