Detinets
Detinets is an ancient city-fort or central fortified part of a city, similar to the meaning of kremlin. The term was used in the Kievan Rus', in Chernihiv, Novgorod the Great, Kiev and others.
Detinets was first used 1044 in Novgorod First Chronicle describing the detinets in Veliky Novgorod. From the 13th to the 14th century detinets was used only in the Russian Pskov-Novgorod region.
The origing of the term is uncertain. Some derive it from the Old East Slavic word deti – "children", suggesting it was used to hide children and other less able people during the siege. Polish philologist Lucyjan Malinowski derives the similarly-sounding Polish term dziedziniec – "courtyard", from detinets.
