The term
Ruthenians ( ,
Rusyns, Rus') is a
culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the
context in which it is used. Initially it was the ethnonym used for
the
Ukrainian people. With the emergence
of
Ukrainian nationalism in
the mid 19th century, the term initially went out of use first in
eastern and central Ukraine, just later in western Ukraine.
In western
Ukraine, especially Carpathian Ruthenia
, and in Ukrainian ethnic territories outside of
Ukraine it is often still used (see Rusyns).
Etymology
Originally the term Rusyn was an ethnonym applied to eastern
Slavic-speaking ethnic groups, who inhabit or inhabited the
cultural and ethnic region of
Rus'
(Русь) often written through its
Latin variant
Ruthenia.
Then, the
terms "Ruthenians" or "Ruthenes" were the Latin terms referring to
Slavic Orthodox people who lived in Grand Duchy of Lithuania
(inhabiting the area that is now Belarus
and Ukraine
..
They spoke the
Ruthenian
language).
It was also the ethnonym used by the Ukrainian kozaks to
describe themselves.
After the
area of White Russia (Belarus) became part
of the Russian
Empire
, the people of the area were seen as a sub-group of
Russians, and they were named White
Russians as the name of the region of White
Russia (Belorusians in Ruthenian and Russian means White Russians). The
Belorusian language in the area
evolved from the
Ruthenian
language.
Later "Ruthenians" or "Ruthenes" were used as a generic term for
Greek Catholic inhabitants
of
Galicia and adjoining
territories up until the early 20th century who spoke Western
dialects of the
Ukrainian
language and called themselves "Русины" (Rusyny).
The language these "Ruthenians" or "Ruthenes" spoke was also called
the "
Ruthenian language"; the
name "Ukrajins’ka mova" (
Ukrainian
language) became accepted by much of the Ukrainian literary
class only in the early twentieth century in
Austro-Hungarian Galicia. After the
dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918 the term "
Ukrainian" was usually applied to all
Ukrainian-speaking inhabitants of Galicia.
See also
References
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