czars and tsars

I'm reading an article that calls the old kings of Russia "Tsars" instead of "Czars."    Most news outlets use the T —– unless they're referring to some person in gov or biz with extra powers, in which case it's the "______ czar".    But for Russian royalty, it's almost always Tsar.    Colloquially, I find many educated people use the C in referring to, say, Nicholas.

The C spelling reminds us that Russia sees itself as the inheritor of the Roman Empire.    There are probably 3 Russian dudes alive right now who have a validish claim to be current Roman Emperor:  "Caesar."   In the West, of course, Germany-as-Holy Roman Empire had its Kaisers for the same reason. 

Remember, Julius and Augustus would not have said "see-zer";  they would have said "kah-eh-zahr" (sorta rhymes with "sky-car").    Time passes;  other languages pick it up, and it starts morphing. 

The C/K became the T in prehistoric Slavic:  "*tsesar."    By the time we get to modern Russia, its Cyrillic script gives us "царь," which we would definitely transliterate with a T rather than a C.

In historical chronology, the C comes first;  in Russian language history, the T comes first.    Using C for "czar" is a way of reconnecting "tsar" to Julius and Augustus —– or, better, to Constantine and Arcadius.    That Latin-script spelling first appears in the 1500s. 

So, now you know about Czar and Tsar.

You'll mostly see "Tsar Nicholas", but sometimes you'll see "Czar Nicholas."    You'll see "Iowa's education czar," but you'll nearly-never see "Iowa's education tsar."