This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2008)

10th century ancient Rus' region

Ruthenia is the Latin word used onwards from the 13th century, describing lands of the Ancient Rus in European manuscripts. Its geographic and culturo-ethnic name at that time was applied to the parts of Eastern Europe. Essentially, the word is a Latin rendering of the ancient place name Rus. Today, the historical territory of Rus is formed with part(s) of the lands of Belarus, northern Ukraine, western Russia, small parts of northeastern Slovakia, and narrow strips of eastern Poland.

The term "Ruthenia" may mean significantly different things, depending on to whom the term applies and the when, why, and to which period. It may refer to any of the following entities, appearing in rough chronological order:

Early Middle Ages[link]

If the name Ruthenia has any connection to the name Rus, a theory generally held in the West connects it the Varangians whom the early Slavic and Finnic tribes called Rus', taking this name from the Old Norse root roðs- or roths- referring to the domain of "rowing" and still existing in the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. Later the name came to denote not only the Scandinavian aristocracy in Eastern Europe but also the ethnically mixed population of their domains. But many other theories dispute this account.

The term Ruteni first appears in the form rex Rutenorum in the 12th-century Augsburg annals. It was most likely a reflex of the ancient tradition, when the barbaric people were called by the names found in Classical Latin authors, i.e. Danes were called Daci^{[disambiguation needed ]} and Germans were called Theutoni. Likewise, the Rus passed by the name of Ruteni, the form being influenced by one of the Gallic tribes mentioned by Julius Caesar.

A 12th-century writer Gervase of Tilbury wrote in his Latin geography that "Poland is bordered in one side with Russia, which is also called Ruthenia, as you may see from the following phrase of Lucan…" The original Latin text: Polonia in uno sui capite contingit Russiam, quae et Ruthenia, de qua Lucanus: Solvuntur flavi longa statione Rutheni.^[1]

By the end of the 12th century, the word Ruthenia had come into use (among the alternative spellings Ruscia and Russia) in Latin papal documents to denote the lands formerly dominated by Kiev. By the 13th century, the term became the dominant name for Rus' in Latin documents, particularly those written in Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland.

In 1253 in Dorohychyn on the Buh a papal archbishop crowned Danylo of Halych (reigned 1253–1264) as the first King of Rus' (Galicia–Volhynia).

Late Middle Ages[link]

By the 15th century, two major states claimed their Rus ancestry: the Muscovy and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Natives used different forms of the name Rus for their country, and some of these forms also passed into Latin and English.

By the 15th century Moscow principality (or Muscovy) established its sovereignty over a large portion of ancient Rus territory, including Novgorod, Pskov, and parts of Chernigov and Pereyaslavl principalities. Since 1547, it called itself the Tsardom of Rus (or Russia) and claimed the sovereignty over "all the Rus'". These laid the foundation of the modern Russian state. Muscovy population was Eastern Orthodox, and used the Greek transcription of Rus, "Rossia", rather than the Latin "Ruthenia".

The southern territories of ancient Rus, including principalities of Galicia–Volhynia, Kiev and others, in the 14th century became a part of Lithuania, which, in 15th century, united with Catholic Poland to form Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Therefore, they were usually denoted by the Latin Ruthenia. However, other spellings were used in Latin, English and other languages during this period as well.

These southern territories have corresponding names in Polish:

• Ruś Halicko-Wołyńska — Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia
• Ruś Halicka — Galicia
• Ruś Biała — White Ruthenia, White Russia or Belarus
• Ruś Czarna — Black Ruthenia, part of modern Belarus
• Ruś Czerwona — Red Ruthenia, Galicia
• Ruś Podkarpacka — Carpathian Ruthenia

Modern age[link]

Belarusians[link]

After World War II, in relation to Belarusians from the Eastern Borderlands (Kresy) region of pre–World War II Poland who found themselves in displaced persons camps in the Western occupation zones of the post-war Germany. At that time the notion of a Belarusian nation met with little recognition in the West^{[citation needed]}. Therefore, to avoid confusion with the term "Russian" and hence "repatriation" to the Soviet Union, the terms White Ruthenian, Whiteruthenian, and Krivian were used. The last of these terms derives from the name of an old Eastern Slavic tribe called the Krivichs, who used to inhabit the territory of Belarus.

Russians[link]

The most numerous population of the ancient Rus descendants, the Russians, still keep the same name for their nation (russkie), while the name of their state, Rus, was gradually replaced by its Greek transcription, "Rossia". Russian population dominates the former territory of Muscovy, Vladimir Rus, The Grand Principality of Smolensk, Novgorod Republic, and Pskov Republic, and they are also a significant minority in Ukraine and Belarus.

The Russian ethnos is not homogenous, though. It includes smaller groups like pomors, cossaks, and others. Also, Russian language is spoken by a large portion of Ukrainians and Belarussians, as well as by non-slavic peoples, which makes it difficult to define a "border" between them and ethnic Russians. The word "Russian" in English media usually refers to any person from Russia, disregarding their descent, which adds to confusion. Modern Russian language has two different words to describe an ethnic Russian (russky, plur. russkie) and a citizen of Russia, of any descent (rossianin).

Ukrainians[link]

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (July 2011)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2011)

The use of the term "Ruthenia" on the lands of ancient Rus survived longer as a name used by Ukrainians for Ukraine. When the Austrian monarchy made Galicia a province in 1772, Habsburg officials realized that the local East Slavic people were distinct from both Poles and Russians, and still called themselves Ruthenians, until the empire fell apart in 1918.

In the 19th century the ethnonym "Ukrainian" was not in common use. Indeed, even the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko despite using the word Ukraine for the area of ancient Rus, never uses the term Ukrainian as an ethnonym in any of his works, but rather uses the terms Kozak or Rusyn.

In the Russian Empire by 1840 the superior term , Μικρά Ρωσία, Little Rus, Rus Minora for Ruthenians become degradative and they began calling themselves Ukrainians for Ukrayina. In the 1880s and 1900s, the popularity of the ethnonym Ukrainian spread and the term "Ukraine" became a substitute for "Ruthenia" among the Ruthenian/Ukrainian population of the Russian Empire. In time the term "Ruthenian" became restricted to western Ukraine, an area then part of the Austro-Hungarian state.

By the early 20th century, the term "Ukraine" had replaced "Ruthenia" in Galicia/Halychyna and by the mid 1920's also in the Ukrainian diaspora in North America.

Rusyns[link]

Rusyns from Transcarpathia in stage folk-costumes from Central Ukraine. Photo: Mokre, Sanok County (Poland). 2007

The term Rusyn is used to describe the ethnicity and language of Ruthenians who did not embrace the Ukrainian national identity.

After 1918, the name "Ruthenia" became narrowed to the area south of the Carpathian mountains in the Kingdom of Hungary, named Carpathian Ruthenia (It incorporated the cities of Mukachevo, Uzhhorod and Prešov) and populated by Carpatho-Ruthenians, a group of East Slavic highlanders. Galician Ruthenians considered themselves to be Ukrainians, and the Carpatho-Ruthenians were the last East Slavic people that kept the ancient historic name (Ruthen is a Latin deformation of the Slavic rusyn).

Carpatho-Ruthenia formed part of the Hungarian Kingdom from the late 11th century, where it was known as Kárpátalja. In May 1919, it was incorporated with nominal autonomy into Czechoslovakia. After this date, Ruthenian people have been divided among three orientations. First, there were the Russophiles, who saw Ruthenians as part of the Russian nation; second, there were the Ukrainophiles who, like their Galician counterparts across the Carpathian mountains, considered Ruthenians part of the Ukrainian nation; and, lastly, there were Ruthenophiles, who said that Carpatho-Ruthenians were a separate nation, and who wanted to develop a native Rusyn language and culture. On 15 March 1939 the Ukrainophile president of Carpatho-Ruthenia, Avhustyn Voloshyn, declared its independence as Carpatho-Ukraine. On the same day Hungarian Army regular troops started to occupy the new state. The Hungarian occupation regime was pro-Ruthenophile^{[citation needed]}. In 1944 the Soviet Army occupied Carpatho-Ruthenia, and in 1946, annexed it to the Ukrainian SSR. Officially, there were no Rusyns in the USSR. In fact, Soviet and some modern Ukrainian politicians, as well as Ukrainian government claim that Rusyns are part of the Ukrainian nation. Nowadays the majority of the population in the Zakarpattya oblast of Ukraine consider themselves Ukrainians^[2], however, a small Rusyn minority is still present^[3].

A Rusyn minority that remained after World War II in northeastern Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) rapidly became Slovakisized.^[4]

Cognate word[link]

The element ruthenium was isolated in 1844 from platinum ore found in the Ural mountains. Ruthenia is the Latin word for Rus'.

Fictional usage[link]

In the movie The Assassination Bureau, the conference of European leaders being held to try and stave off the impending World War is held in a castle in Ruthenia.

See also[link]

• Ruthenian (disambiguation)

References[link]

5. Magocsi, Paul Robert (1995). "The Rusyn Question". Political Thought (http://www.litopys.org.ua/rizne/magocie.htm)&#32

External links[link]

• Why is the "Russia" White? - a book review of Ales Biely's Chronicle of Ruthenia Alba
•  "Ruthenians". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• "Ruthenia - Spearhead Toward the West", by Senator Charles J. Hokky, Former Member ot the Czechoslovakian Parliament (Book representing a Hungarian nationalist position)
• Norman Davies, Europe: A History. New York, Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-06-097468-0