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How do the Slavic words for king show the former unity of the Slavic languages?

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Map of Europe showing the geographic distribution of Slavic languages, color-coded by language group: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian), West Slavic (Polish, Kashubian, Czech, Slovak, Sorbian), and South Slavic (Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian). Striped areas indicate regions where bilingualism is common. — Slavic languages Distribution of the Slavic languages in Europe.

The Slavic words for "king" provide evidence of the former unity of the Slavic languages through their shared origin in the name of the emperor Charlemagne (747–814).

Before the dissolution of Slavic linguistic unity, the name entered the Slavic languages in the postulated form *korljĭ (meaning "Karl"). Over time, this proper name evolved into the generic term for "king" across the various Slavic dialects. The subsequent divergence in the word's form illustrates how the languages developed separately after this initial period of unity:1

South Slavic: The form shifted to -ra-, seen in Bulgarian kral, Serbian and Croatian kralj, and Slovene králj.1
East Slavic: The form retained the -oro- structure, as seen in Russian korol’.1
West Slavic: The form evolved into král in Czech and król in Polish.1

Because these variations can be traced back to a single, common ancestral term that was adopted before the Slavic groups fully separated, the word serves as a significant chronological marker for the period when the Slavic languages still functioned as a unified linguistic entity.1