Colonel (Eastern Europe)

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.

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. Belarus — палкоўнік
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia — pukovnik (Bosnian: [pǔkoːʋniːk])
3. Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Russia and Ukraine — полковник (Russian: [pɐlˈkovnʲɪk] ^ⓘ, Ukrainian: [polˈkɔu̯nɪk])
4. Czech Republic and Slovakia — plukovník
5. Poland — pułkownik (Polish: [puwˈkɔvɲik] ^ⓘ)
6. Slovenia — polkovnik

It is also used in some non-Slavic languages:

1. Latvia — pulkvedis
2. Lithuania — pulkininkas
3. Georgia — პოლკოვნიკი (Georgian: [pʼolkʼovnikʼi])

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. Georgia likely inherited it from the Russian Empire.