Citations:Cossack

English citations of Cosack, Cossack, Cossac, Cozak, and Kozak

			1651	1760	1807 1850
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1651, Mercurius Politicus, (July 3–10), p 907:

  From Stetin in Pomerania, 8. June. ¶ They write that the Cosacks have met some part of the Polish Forces coming from Lublin and Qarnikow, that were marching to the Kings Army, whom they engaged and routed : But on the other side, that Prince Ratziwil, from Littaw, is falne into the Cosacks Countrey, called Ukrain [sic], and hath taken the chief city thereof, called Kiow : But hereof is no certainty.

• 1760, The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure, v 27, London: J. Hinton, p 250:

  To the south of the province of Smolensko you find the province of Kiovia, which is the Little Russia, the Red Russia, or the Ukrain [sic], crossed by the Dnieper, which the Greeks call Boristhenes.  […] The Ukranians [sic], called Cossacs, are a collected body of ancient Roxelans, Sarmatians, and Tartars.

• 1807, The Literary Panorama, v 2, London: C. Taylor:

  [p 129, “Description of the Ukraine”] The origin of the Ukrainians, commonly denominated Cozaks, and lately distinguished by the name of Malo-Russians (Little Russians, inhabitants of Little Russia; the word Malo-Russia, or Little Russia, being often used as a substitute for that of Ukraine) is lost, like that of many other nations, in the confusion and ignorance of former ages; though, unquestionably, they are a race of the ancient Sclavonians, and not, as some have imagined, a tribe of the Scythians, whose real descendants appear to be the Calmuks, excelling now, as ever, in the use of bows and arrows; nor is their dexterity in these weapons less wonderful than what is related of the ancient Scythians.

  [p 377, “Letters on the Ukraine, by a Russian Gentleman”] The Cozaks are unquestionably a branch of the Russians, and are divided into two grand bodies: the Don Cozaks, the Malo-Russian Cozaks, from which all other have afterwards taken their origin.

• 1850, Historical View of the Languages and Literature of the Slavic Nations, pp 50:

  There exists in it a travesty of the Æneid, written by J. Kotliarevski, a Kozak, which has found great favour throughout all Russia, although a foreigner is less able to appreciate its peculiarities and beauties; since indeed all poetic excellence of a comic description can be felt only by those who are familiar not only with the poetic language, but also with all those minute local and historical circumstances, the allusions to which contribute so frequently to augment the ludicrous.