Romanov

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A member of the last imperial dynasty that ruled Russia from 1613 until the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917, and known for their significant impact on Russian history
2. A historically significant family that produced several rulers of Russia, noted for their influence on the culture and politics of the country during their reign
3. Referring to the lineage of monarchs in Russia, which includes notable events such as the Russian Revolution and the subsequent fall of the empire

Etymology: The dynasty takes its name not from a Russian founder's homeland but from a personal name that traces back to Rome itself. The surname Romanov is a transliteration of the Russian Романов, formed from the given name Roman. That name came into Russian from Romance, the Latin-derived language family, and ultimately from Latin Roma, "Rome." So the family's name is, at root, a Russified form of a name meaning "Roman." The Latin word Roma may itself have an older, non-Latin origin. Some scholars have proposed that it derived from a river name, perhaps referring to the Tiber, though this remains uncertain. If so, the city's name would be older than the Latin language that spread it, and the dynasty's name would carry that deep layer of history into a Slavic setting.