Boyar (caste)
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From Russian бояре, plural of боярин, perhaps from Slavic bol- ‘great’, or perhaps related to Turkish boj ‘stature’.
Noun
- A rank of aristocracy (second only to princes) in Russia, Bulgaria and Romania.
- 1997: Boris had abdicated in 889, leaving the throne [of Bulgaria] to his son Vladimir, who had immediately identified himself with the boyar aristocracy which Boris had done his utmost to crush. — John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium (Penguin 1998, p. 159)