Otchich i dedich (‘paternal and ancestral successor’) in the title of Russian monarchs

Abstract

The article dwells on the terms otchich i dedich (отчичь и дѣдичь) in the royal style and titles of Muscovite grand princes and tsars. This collocation of West Russian origin was adopted in the administrative language of Muscovy in the mid-14th century. In West Rus’ the phrase otchich i dedich had the same meaning as a whole as each of its components separately. Both otchich and dedich meant a hereditary lord or ruler: these words complemented, rather than сontrasted with, each other. The pleonastic collocation otchich i dedich had the same meaning; two words of the same meaning created an amplification effect. In Muscovy, within the context of infighting for the grand-princely throne, this collocation has proven to be related to the hereditary transfer of power according to the principle of primogeniture. In these circumstances the phrase otchich i dedich means a legitimate linear heir that inherited the power from his father who, in turn, had inherited the power from his grandfather, etc.; a collateral heir is a dedich but not an otchich. After the power of the tsars was established and infighting became obsolete, the phrase otchich i dedich became connected to the struggle for recognizing the Muscovite grand prince in his capacity as the tsar and thus was not longer a factor in internal politics, but became a factor in foreign policy. By using this phrase, Russian tsars assert that they have inherited their title of tsar from their ancestors. This, in turn, opens a wide field for genealogical mythology.