A fact from Radu Paisie appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 13 October 2017 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that Prince of WallachiaRadu Paisie was deposed by his Ottoman overlords in 1545, with measures taken to prevent his "abscond[ing] with the treasury"?
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Christianity, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Christianity on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ChristianityWikipedia:WikiProject ChristianityTemplate:WikiProject ChristianityChristianity articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Egypt, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Egypt on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.EgyptWikipedia:WikiProject EgyptTemplate:WikiProject EgyptEgypt articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Middle Ages, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Middle Ages on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Middle AgesWikipedia:WikiProject Middle AgesTemplate:WikiProject Middle AgesMiddle Ages articles
This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles
This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Former countries, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of defunct states and territories (and their subdivisions). If you would like to participate, please join the project.Former countriesWikipedia:WikiProject Former countriesTemplate:WikiProject Former countriesformer country articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Romania, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Romania-related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.RomaniaWikipedia:WikiProject RomaniaTemplate:WikiProject RomaniaRomania articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Visual arts, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of visual arts on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Visual artsWikipedia:WikiProject Visual artsTemplate:WikiProject Visual artsvisual arts articles
Expanding on this: voivode is for sure the military office of the prince -- though some of the princes used it exclusively, others did not; even in Slavonic, their titles were also gospod or hospodar (sometimes used as "Voivode and Hospodar"), and when they started using Romanian, they were also domn and, as time passed, principe or prinț. The regnal function stayed the same, the titles changed randomly, as it pleased the prince -- the Phanariotes consistently called themselves Prince and Voivode, and sometimes just Prince; by the 19th century, they were all domnitori or principi, and voievode was an anachronism (as clarified for instance in the entry for "Vaivode" in Charles James's New and Enlarged Military Dictionary, Vol. II, 1810: described here as a title "formerly given to the sovereign princes of Wallachia [etc.]"). On the other hand, I can easily cite sources in Romanian applying the title of Princes to rulers from the 15th century. Consistent translations of the title as Princeps appear in Latin alongside renditions as Vaivoda, Waiwoda etc., and they probably date back to the 1500s. This suggests that it is established practice to call them princes, not just voievozi. So if we keep changing all references from prince to voivode, we turn something broad into something narrow, and risk using the title on people who never used it. What is more, I urge someone favoring that to tell me at which point in the succession of infoboxes they plan on using prince: are they also planning on calling Gheorghe Bibescu a voivode? ("voievodul gheorghe bibescu" produces three google hits, "domnitorul gheorghe bibescu" has 2,490, "principele gheorghe bibescu" has 784, "printul gheorghe bibescu" has 685) Also consider that it was the "principality of Wallachia", with common references in Romanian ro "principatul Valahiei" or "principatul Munteniei" or "principatul Țării Românești", including in Romanian sources which insist on calling the rulers voievozi. Voievodatul is rarely used as a descriptor of the country, and generally, in Romanian, it refers to smaller units that became absorbed into Wallachia, like Voievodatul lui Litovoi. Which only adds to why this determination on using voievod is really inconsistent. Dahn (talk) 13:17, 12 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]
As a random example of a Romanian historian focusing on proper usage, there's Florin Petrică, who argues: În general ei se numeau domni şi aşa trebuie numiţi, nu voievozi, pentru înseamnă mai puţin. Domnul nu este totuna cu domnitorul. Domnitorii apar după regulamentele organice, deci după 1830. Până atunci, toţi trebuie numiţi domni, nu domnitori ("In general they [the rulers] called themselves domni and they should be called that, rather than voievozi, because [the latter] has a lesser meaning. A domn is not the same as a domnitor. Domnitori appear after Regulamentul Organic, and so after 1830. Up to that point, they should all be called domni, not domnitori.") Domn has several translation, particularly since it has banalized itself to where it means "mister". But note that the two terms of interest on that list of variants are "Prince" and "Lord". I suggest that the former is the standard in English, as can be seen for instance when you go on google books and type "Prince or Voivode" or, conversely, "Voivode or Prince". The editorial comment in that source goes as far as to call usage of Voievod (even in Romanian, that is!) "improper". Dahn (talk) 14:01, 12 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]