Starost

The title of starost or starosta (Cyrillic: старост/а, Latin: capitaneus, German: Starost) designates an official or unofficial leader, used in various contexts through most of Slavic history. One can translate it as "senior" or "elder". The word comes from the Slavic root star-, "old". In Poland, a starosta would administer a territory called a starostwo.

In the early Middle Ages, the starosta was the head of a Slavic community or of other communities so one finds designations such as church starosta, artel starosta, etc. The starosta also functioned as the master of ceremonies in traditional Carpatho-Rusyn, Ukrainian, and Polish weddings, similar to stari svat (стари сват) in Serbian weddings.

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