Sich
A sich (Ukrainian: січ [sʲit͡ʃ], s(y)itch, plural січі, sichi[1]; English plural: sichs, sichy or siches) was an administrative and military centre of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. The word sich derives from the Ukrainian verb сікти sikty, "to chop" – with the implication of clearing a forest for an encampment or of building a fortification with the trees that have been chopped down.[2] According to Serhii Plokhy, a Sich is "a fortified settlement, [named] after the wooden palisade that protected it".[3]
The Zaporozhian Sich was the fortified capital of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, located on an island in the Dnieper beyond the rapids (za porohamy, hence Zaporizhia),[4] in the 16th–18th centuries in the area of what is now Ukraine. The Sich was moved (or transferred) several times to different islands. At times, there were multiple inhabited siches simultaneously. Nevertheless, the entire phenomenon, or all siches collectively, are commonly called "the Zaporizhian Sich". The Sich was often used as a staging ground for raiding expeditions to the Black Sea.[4]
The Sich Rada was the highest organ of government in the Zaporozhian Host, or army of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. It functioned as a democracy, with an elected leader, the kish otaman.[3] The Danubian Sich was the fortified settlement of those Zaporozhian Cossacks who later settled in the Danube Delta.
In 1917, the Sich Riflemen were named after the erstwhile Zaporizhian Sich.[5] The Carpathian Sich was the irregular military of the short-lived state of Carpatho-Ukraine (1938–1939).[6]
Other transcriptions
[edit source]- Jeremiah Curtin (1898) – Saitch
- Samuel Binion (1898) – Sich
- Beatrice Baskerville (1907) – Setch
- Isabel Hepgood (1915) and Israel Friedlander (1916) – Syech
- Harold Lamb (1917) – Siech
- William Penn Cresson (1919) – Sitch[7]
- Lesley Blanch (1960)[8] and Frank Herbert's novel Dune (1965) – Sietch[8]
List of sichs
[edit source]
Zaporizhian sichs:
- Khortytsia Castle (c. 1550s); its status as "the first sich" is disputed[9]
- Tomakivka Sich (1540?–1593); its status as "the first sich" is disputed[9]
- Bazavluk Sich (1593–1638)[10]
- Mykytyn Sich (1639–1652)
- Chortomlyk Sich (1652–1709; 1728–1730)
- Kamianka Sich (1709–1711; 1728–1734)
- Oleshky Sich (1711–1728)
- Nova Sich (1734–1775)
Danubian sichs:
- Katerlez Sich
- Seimen Sich
- Dunavets Sich (1814–1828)
Other sichs:
- Ukrainian Far Eastern Sich (1937–1941)
In culture
[edit source]In the Dune series of novels by Frank Herbert, a sietch is a fortified cave settlement made by the Fremen people on the planet Arrakis; the name derives from sich.[11] "Sietch Tabr" combines the Cossack words sich and tabor or "wagon fort".[8]
References
[edit source]- ↑ Subtelny, Orest (1989). Ukraine. A History. CUP Archive. p. 72. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
- ↑ Dmytro Yavornytsky (1990) [1892]. L. L. Kiriyenko (ed.). Історія Запорізьких Козаків, у трьох томах [History of the Zaporizhian Cossacks, in three volumes] (in Ukrainian). Vol. 1. Translated by Ivan Svarnyk. Lviv: Publishing house Svit. ISBN 978-5-11-000647-0..
- 1 2 Plokhy 2022, p. 105.
- 1 2 Plokhy 2022, p. 110.
- ↑ Plokhy 2022, p. 225.
- ↑ Plokhy 2022, p. 276.
- ↑ "Козак Хлит: український переклад". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2021-09-26.
- 1 2 3 Patell, Cyrus R. K.; Williams, Deborah Lindsay (5 March 2024). The Oxford History of the Novel in English: Volume 8: American Fiction since 1940. Oxford University Press. p. 442. ISBN 978-0-19-265907-1. Retrieved 7 August 2026.
Numerous words found in [Lesley Blanch's book The Sabres of Paradise: Conquest and Vengeance in the Caucasus (1960)] were used by Frank Herbert: most tellingly, two Cossack words meaning camp, sietch and tabr, are given to the Fremen settlement where Paul Atreides first lives: Sietch Tabr.
- 1 2 Kuzyk 2013.
- ↑ Shcherbak, Vitaliy Oleksiyovych (2003). "Базавлуцька Січ" [Bazavlutsjka Sich]. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Vol. 1. Kyiv: Institute of History of Ukraine. p. 688. Archived from the original on 20 June 2026. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
- ↑ Honchar, O. (1989). The Cathedral: A Novel. United States: St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics.
Bibliography
[edit source]- Kuzyk, Tetyana Leonidivna (2013). "Січ, як термін" [Sich, as a term]. Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). Vol. 9. Kyiv: Institute of History of Ukraine. Archived from the original on 21 June 2026. Retrieved 21 June 2026. (last updated 2021)
- Plokhy, Serhii (2022). The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. New York, NY: Basic Books. p. 414. ISBN 978-0-465-07394-8.
