The Collaborative International Dictionary
Waywode \Way"wode\, n. [Russ. voevoda, or Pol. woiewoda; properly, a leader of an army, a leader in war. Cf. Vaivode.] Originally, the title of a military commander in various Slavonic countries; afterwards applied to governors of towns or provinces. It was assumed for a time by the rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia, who were afterwards called hospodars, and has also been given to some inferior Turkish officers. [Written also vaivode, voivode, waiwode, and woiwode.]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
local or provincial ruler in Transylvania, Moldavia, etc., 1560s, from Russian voevoda, originally "leader of the army," from Old Church Slavonic voji "warriors" + -voda "leader." Compare Hungarian vajvoda (later vajda), Serbian vojvoda, Polish wojewoda.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A local ruler or official in various parts of central and eastern Europe, especially early semi-independent rulers of Transylvania. 2 An administrative chief in modern Poland.
Wikipedia
Voivode ( Old Slavic, literally "war-leader" or "war-lord") is a Slavic title that originally denoted the principal commander of a military force. It derives from the word vojevoda, which in early Slavic meant the bellidux, i.e. the military commander of an area, but it usually had a greater meaning. In Byzantine times it was used to refer to mainly military commanders of Slavic populations, especially in the Balkans. In medieval Serbia it meant a high-ranking official and before the Ottoman conquest the commander of a military area. During Ottoman times, Voivode was the title borne by the ruler of a province, whose powers included the administration, security and tax collection under a special regime. According to the chronicle of the Voutsas monastery, the Slavic title of “voivode”, which prevailed in certain areas of Epirus and Thessaly before the Ottoman conquest, used to denote the leader of a Vlach community or family. The same title was borne by the Ottoman official who oversaw the “Chora Metzovo” each time. The word gradually came to denote the governor of a province.
The territory ruled or administered by a voivode is known as a voivodeship. In the English language, the title is often translated as " prince" or " duke". In Slavic terminology, the rank of a voivode is considered equal of that of a German Herzog. A Voivode was often considered to be an assistant of the Knyaz. During military actions the voivode was in charge of a conscripted army that consisted of the local population, the voj (voi); while the knyaz had its own regular military formation, the druzhina.
Today in Poland the term wojewoda means the centrally appointed governor of a Polish province or voivodeship . The Polish title is sometimes rendered in English as " palatine" or " prince palatine", in charge of a palatinate. Other similar titles could be considered Margrave (Frontier-Governor), Governor-General, and others. With the expansion of the Russian Empire the title of voivode was superseded by namestnik (compared to viceroy). The title was used in medieval Bulgaria, Bohemia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Greece, Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Rügen, Lusatia, Poland, Muscovy (later Tsardom of Russia), Halych, Volhynia, Novgorod Republic, Chernigov, and Kiev. Later, voivode was the highest military rank in the principalities of Montenegro and Serbia, and in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the Romanian medieval principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, voievode became part of the official titulature of the sovereign prince, showing his right to lead the entire army. Voivode or vajda (Baida) was also the title of the Hungarian governors of Transylvania in the Middle Ages. Baida was a title of a Ruthenian nobleman Dmytro Vyshnevetsky, a Cossack leader. Similarly, the rebel leaders in the Balkans were called voivodes.
Usage examples of "voivode".
Father the moon-hanger the eye-in-the-sky the old meister the bey window the bit chammer the gaekwarder the incaling the khando kid the neatzam the shotgun of kyotowing the principal stadtholder the voivode the top wali, this Being, I say, being a Being of the highest anthropocentrictrac interest, as well as the one who keeps the corn popping from the fine green fields and the like and the like, is maybe being abruised and lese-majestied by us poor galoots over many meters of hard cheese days in and out but even a galoot has a brain to wonder with and what we wonder is to what end?
Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground?
He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkeyland.
Janos Hunyadi, voivode of Transylvania and later ruler of all Hungary, would have found these waters bitter to his taste indeed.
He the noble Voivode, Count Dracula, the Son of the Dragon, in The Land Beyond the Forest.
Lasco, Voivode of Sieradz in Poland, was sensible of the honor done him, and the more gratified that the Queen herself had ordered it.
Shemitish mercenaries of Constantius, the Kothic voivode of the Free Companies.
The voivode laughed coolly, wiped the saliva from his gorget and reined his horse about.
The Guild Voivode emphasized his irritation by flexing the finger-clusters of his midlimbs.
While the native continued to screech, the Voivode stared out at the landscape.
The Voivode twisted his body, caterpillarlike, and examined the situation.
The Voivode glanced at the nearest of the sepoys standing silently against the wall of the chamber.
The Voivode spread both his forelimb clusters, to give emphasis to his next words.
How else could they have known that the Voivode had once been the Roman commander?
It is this: The grand Father's bein' all hauly-mauly by the likes of us over bump and bumbust and all raggletailed and his poor bumleg all hurty and his grand aura all tarnagled and June bein' a bad month for new enterprises and a bad month for old enterprises accordin' to the starcharts and like that, we that is to say us the men have a faint intustition that maybe the best is not to come in terms of the grand Father the moon-hanger the eye-in-the-sky the old meister the bey window the bit chammer the gaekwarder the incaling the khando kid the neatzam the shotgun of kyotowing the principal stadtholder the voivode the top wali, this Being, I say, being a Being of the highest anthropocentrictrac interest, as well as the one who keeps the corn popping from the fine green fields and the like and the like, is maybe being abruised and lese-majestied by us poor galoots over many meters of hard cheese days in and out but even a galoot has a brain to wonder with and what we wonder is to what end?