A sich ( uk, січ), or sech,
was an administrative and military centre of the
Zaporozhian Cossacks. The word ''sich'' derives from the Ukrainian verb сікти ''siktý'', "to chop" – with the implication of clearing a forest for an encampment or of building a
fortification
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere' ...
with the trees that have been chopped down.
The
Zaporizhian Sich
The Zaporozhian Sich ( ua, Запорозька Січ, ; also uk, Вольностi Вiйська Запорозького Низового, ; Free lands of the Zaporozhian Host the Lower) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of C ...
was the fortified capital of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, located on the
Dnieper River
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...
, in the 16th–18th centuries in the area of what is today
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. The
Sich Rada
The Sich Rada (, ''Sichova Rada'') was the highest branch of government of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, and based at their center, the Zaporizhian Sich. It was also called Viyskova Rada (Military Council). The Rada, a type of governing committee but ...
was the highest organ of government in the
Zaporozhian Host, or army of the Zaporozhian Cossacks. The
Danubian Sich
The Danubian Sich ( uk, Задунайська Сiч, translit=Zadunaiska Sich) was an organization of the part of former Zaporozhian Cossacks who settled in the territory of the Ottoman Empire (the Danube Delta, hence the name) after their pre ...
was the fortified settlement of those Zaporozhian Cossacks who later settled in the
Danube Delta.
Other transcriptions
* Sietch
*
Jeremiah Curtin (1898) — Saitch
*Samuel Binion (1898) - Sich
*Beatrice Baskerville (1907) - Setch
*
Isabel Hepgood (1915) - Syech
*
Harold Lamb (1917) - Siech
*William Cresson (1919) - Sitch
References
{{Wiktionary
Kiev Voivodeship
Zaporizhian Sich