Etymology

grand duke

Today it means: Ruler or monarch of a grand duchy. Full definition →

Middle French and French grand duc /grand-duc ← Italian granduca ← German Großherzog
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The story

  1. Russian · derived fromвели́кий князь
  2. German · derived fromGroßherzog
  3. Italian · derived fromgranduca
  4. Middle French and French · derived fromgrand duc /grand-duc
  5. English todaygrand duke

From grand + duke, after Middle French and French grand duc /grand-duc, itself after titles in other languages, especially Italian granduca, German Großherzog, and Russian вели́кий князь (velíkij knjazʹ). Doublet of grand-duc.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.