At'a·man noun [ Russian ataman' : confer Pol. hetman , German hauptmann headman, chieftain. Confer Hetman .] A hetman, or chief of the Cossacks. 
• (n.) A hetman, or chief of the Cossacks.
(from the article `hetman`) ...century); the hetman wielki (`great hetman`) was the chief of the armed forces and the commander in the field when the king was not present. In ...
Cossack senior officer.
Ataman (variants: Otaman, Wataman, Vataman; Russian: атаман) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukrainian version of the same word is Hetman. Otaman in Ukrainian Cossack forces was a position of a lo...
[surname] Ataman is a Turkish name. Notable people with the name include: ...