Biritch in Ancient Rus was a herald

Herald

A herald, or, more correctly, a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is often applied erroneously to all officers of arms....

, an announcer of the will of a knyaz

Knyaz

Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....

, sometimes kniaz's deputy in police or diplomatic affairs, or tax collector. A birich travelled to settlements, played bugle

Bugle (instrument)

The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure, since the bugle has no other mechanism for controlling pitch. Consequently, the bugle is limited to notes within the harmonic series...

 or horn

Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

 in the center of a town square

Town square

A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, and town green.Most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets,...

 or yard to gather people and read the announcement.

The word is thought to be derived from a Turkic

Turkic languages

The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...

 word for "bugler", "hornist" (in modern Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

: borucu, borazancı). Other hypotheses try to base the meanings on interpretations of the root bir-, meaning "to take" in Slavic languages, deriving the meaning "tax collector".

Birich is mentioned in East Slavic manuscripts since the 10th century and until the end of the 17th century. The Laurentian Codex

Laurentian Codex

Laurentian Codex or Laurentian Chronicle is a collection of chronicles that includes the oldest extant version of the Primary Chronicle and its continuations, mostly relating the events in Northern Russia ....

 mentions under the year of 992 that knyaz Vladimir of Kiev

Vladimir I of Kiev

Vladimir Sviatoslavich the Great Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь Old Norse as Valdamarr Sveinaldsson, , Vladimir, , Volodymyr, was a grand prince of Kiev, ruler of Kievan Rus' in .Vladimir's father was the prince Sviatoslav of the Rurik dynasty...

, when looking for a volunteer to fight a Pecheneg baghatur

Baghatur

Baghatur is a historical Turco-Mongol honorific title, in origin a term for "hero" or "valiant warrior".The term was first used by the steppe peoples to the north and west of China as early as the 7th century as evidenced in Sui dynasty records...

have sent a birich in regiments. Later tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

s of Muscovy announced various ukase

Ukase

A ukase , in Imperial Russia, was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader that had the force of law...

s via biriches. Heads of the Church also used biriches to announce their decrees. A birich was supposed to make an announcement in market place, not once but many times, somenimes during several months. Later other administrators (namestniks, voyevodas, etc.) had biriches in their staff, as mentioned in payroll

Payroll

In a company, payroll is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Payroll plays a major role in a company for several reasons...

s.

The word "biritch" is the name of a 19th century card game

Card game

A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...

. It is said to have originated in Russia, but satisfactory evidence of this has not been discovered. It is considered to be a precursor of contract bridge

Contract bridge

Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...

.