Kurin

Kurin [ Kurin’]. A type of barracks at the Zaporozhian Sich as well as a military and administrative unit consisting of several companies. There were 38 kurins at the Zaporozhian Sich, each commanded by an elected otaman, who had both administrative and military functions. In the Ukrainian armies of the 20th century a kurin was a battalion-size unit consisting usually of two or more companies.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]