Who was Tsar Gorokh?

Despite its popularity in the language, linguists and folklorists do not agree on its origin. There are several main theories.

The most common one links the expression to Russian folk tales. ‘Tsar Gorokh’ (which, in English, translates as ‘Emperor Pea’)  is a folkloric character, a fictional ruler mentioned in the opening lines of some tales. His name serves as a marker of ancient times. For example: "In the old, old days, Tsar Gorokh waged war against mushrooms".

Folklorist Alexander Afanasyev proposed a more complex theory. He connected the name ‘Gorokh’ to the pagan thunder god Perun. In mythological thought, ‘grom’ (thunder, associated with the Russian word ‘grokhot’, meaning ‘rumble’ or ‘crash") was associated with fertility and the pea was one of the symbols of fertility. Thus, ‘Tsar Gorokh’ might be a corrupted form of ‘Tsar Grokh’, that is, a euphemism for the name of the fearsome god Perun. However, modern linguists are skeptical of this hypothesis, pointing out that the words ‘grokhot’ (rumble) and ‘gorokh’ (pea) have different etymological roots.

Finally, a third theory traces ‘Tsar Gorokh’ back to ‘Tsargrad’. It’s possible that the expression originally referred to events that took place "near Tsargrad" (the name used in Old Russia for Constantinople aka modern-day Istanbul). Over time, the phrase may have evolved into the phonetically similar "in the time of Tsar Gorokh".