bogatyr

plural bogatyrs · plural bogatyri

1. historicalA medieval heroic warrior in Kievan Rus, akin to the Western European knight-errant.

   Some variants of the tale say that all the bogatyrs perished in the battle except Ilya of Murom, who, however, died after coming back as a winner.

   2011, Konstantin M Averin, Tatiana I Pavlova, To Be Or Not to Be Russian?, page 31

   2 more examples

   There was no answer from the bogatyr. Ilya shouted even louder than before, Louder than before, in a shrill voice— There was no answer from the bogatyr.

   1998, James Bailey, Tatyana Ivanova (translators and editors), An Anthology of Russian Folk Epics, page 17

   Later on, he^([Tolstoy]) was equated with Ilya Muromets, the most famous Russian bogatyr - a semi-mythical medieval warrior who lay at home on the brick stove until he was thirty-three - then went on to perform great feats defending the realm. Ilya Muromets is Russia's traditional symbol of physical and spiritual strength.

   2011, Rosamund Bartlett, Tolstoy: A Russian Life, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, page 2