View source for Kurin

{{Short description|Ukrainian military subdivision}}
{{Other uses}}
'''Kurin''' ({{langx|uk|курінь}}) has two definitions: a military and administrative unit of the [[Zaporozhian Cossacks]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=УКРАЇНА, ДЕРЖАВА: ФОРМУВАННЯ ТЕРИТОРІЇ ТА ІСТОРІЯ АДМІНІСТРАТИВНО-ТЕРИТОРІАЛЬНОГО УСТРОЮ |url=http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=1.%202.%202 |access-date=2022-10-09 |website=resource.history.org.ua}}</ref> [[Black Sea Cossack Host]], and others; and of a type of housing (see below).

In the administrative definition, a kurin usually consisted of a few hundred Cossacks, with their own land, treasury and flag, and around a hundred houses.<ref>''Жильбер Ромм''. «Путешествие в Крым в 1786 г.» — <abbr>Л.</abbr>: Издание Ленинградского государственного университета, 1941. — 79 с.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=КУРЕНІ ЗАПОРОЗЬКІ 16–18 СТ. |url=http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?Z21ID=&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Kureni_Zaporozki |access-date=2022-10-09 |website=resource.history.org.ua}}</ref> The number of kurins was not permanent, and varied throughout time: during the 16th century, there were 8 kurins in the [[Zaporozhian Sich]] and 38 during the first half of the 18th century.<ref>[https://shron1.chtyvo.org.ua/Haietskyi_Yurii/Cossack_Terminology__en.pdf? Cossack terminology: suggestions for the study of the Hetmanate, the Ukrainian Cossack State] // George Gajecky, 1975</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=КУРІНЬ |url=http://resource.history.org.ua/cgi-bin/eiu/history.exe?Z21ID=&I21DBN=EIU&P21DBN=EIU&S21STN=1&S21REF=10&S21FMT=eiu_all&C21COM=S&S21CNR=20&S21P01=0&S21P02=0&S21P03=TRN=&S21COLORTERMS=0&S21STR=Kurin |access-date=2022-10-09 |website=resource.history.org.ua}}</ref> All Cossacks had to be part of a kurin and were listed on the so-called "kurin komput" (a register of Cossacks in the kurin), and were subject to the kurin [[Ataman|otaman]].

In the other definition, a kurin is a type of housing, sometimes temporary, which can vary in size and purpose: from a small tent made of leaves, to a large wooden house for permanent occupation.<ref>Буда // Словник української мови : в 11 т. — К. : Наукова думка, 1970—1980.</ref>

== Administrative unit ==
The kurin was the lowest administrative division in the [[Cossack Hetmanate]]. According to a Ukrainian historian [[Adrian Kashchenko]], there were 38 kurins.
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="3" |Subdivisions of the Cossack Hetmanate
[[File:CoA_Hetmanate.svg|border|400x400px]]
|-
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black; text-align:center;" |'''First'''
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black; text-align:center;" |[[Regiment (administrative unit)|Regiment]]
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black" |{{langx|uk|полк|polk}}, pl. {{langx|uk|полки|polky}}
|-
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black; text-align:center;" |'''Second'''
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black; text-align:center;" |[[Sotnia]]
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black" |{{langx|uk|сотня|sotnia}}, pl. {{langx|uk|сотні|sotni}}
|-
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black; text-align:center;" |'''Third'''
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black; text-align:center;" |Kurin
| style="background:#FFEC77; color:black" |{{langx|uk|курінь|kurin}}, pl. {{langx|uk|курені|kureni}}
|}

== Etymology ==
''Kurin'' is most probably a loanword of [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] origins.<ref>Етимологічний словник української мови : в 7 т. / редкол.: О. С. Мельничук (гол. ред.) та ін. — К. : Наукова думка, 1989. — Т. 3 : Кора — М / Ін-т мовознавства ім. О. О. Потебні АН УРСР ; укл.: Р. В. Болдирєв та ін. — 552 с. — {{ISBN|5-12-001263-9}}</ref> Compare [[Chagatai language|Chagatai]] ''kürän'' ("group of warriors") and [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]] ''kürijän'' ("warrior wagon train"). Other etymologies have been proposed – most prominently from the Ukrainian word ''курити'', which means to smoke, create smoke<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Яворницький |first=Дмитро |title=Історія Запорізьких Козаків |year=1990 |edition=1st |location=Ukraine |pages=158 |language=uk}}</ref> – but they are generally not supported by linguists.

== In the Zaporozhian Sich ==
According to [[Dmytro Yavornytsky]] in his book "History of the Zaporozhian Cossacks" ({{langx|uk|Історія запорізьких козаків}}), a kurin was a [[Barracks|barrack]] 31 metres in length and 4 metres in width which was built out of lumber, with varying internal structures, or a military unit around the size of a [[regiment]]. Each kurin would have a small treasury building where cossacks would store valuables. Most cossacks did not live in the kurin they were counted in, rather choosing nearby villages, [[Wild Fields|wilderness]] or other. The kurin were usually named after nearby towns, the otaman which founded them, or from the original hometowns of the resident cossacks. 10 kurins constituted a quarter of the whole [[Sich]], and would be classified as a "pirija" - a special administrative unit with its own treasury, which was larger than in the individual kurins.<ref name=":0" />{{Cossacks}}
==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Military of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:World War II resistance movements]]
[[Category:Military units and formations of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Cossack military units and formations]]
[[Category:Ukrainian Insurgent Army]]