Host Starshina

Host Starshina

 

an officer’s rank (title) in cossack hosts of tsarist Russia. The term is derived from the old name for the executive body of authority among the cossacks, the so-called host starshina (stress on second syllable). Later this term was applied in its modified form (stress on last syllable) to persons who commanded detachments and regiments or were in charge of branches of administration of the cossack host. In 1754 the rank of host starshina was equated with the rank of major and in 1885 with the rank of lieutenant colonel; it was retained until 1917.