Posted on 11/25/2004 3:08:26 PM PST by neverdem
The term "Rus" entered into history (entering into history means when a thing is written down) when the Greeks first recorded the name 'Rus' for a Scandinavian ruled Slavic people around Kiev. It is from that workd we get Russian. I need not be Slav to know this history.
Destro,
2nd request - Please take your nonsense to one of the teen chat lines. Rus is not Russian . Kiev and its Ukrainians was the leading city in the area - called the City of Golden Churches - This was when Moscow was a podunk trading village.
Rus is derived from the norse term for "Row".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine
It was formerly referred to as the Ukraine in English, and many people continue to use this term. The region has also been known as Rus’ or Ruthenia, and in Russian historiography as Little Russia (Malorossiya).
The current name is derived in various ways according to Slavic etymology. It may signify "borderland" or "on the edge"; alternatively, the name may be taken to mean "homeland" or "one's own land"; finally some trace the name to a verb meaning, "to cut", indicating the land the Rus' people (or Ruthenians or Ukrainians) cut out for themselves.
The term "Rus'" referred to many of the purely East Slavic principalities in the region (Rus' Chervona (Red Rus')/Ruthenia, for example). Kiev, and Kievian Rus' was the seat of the Grand Prince of the Rurik Dynasty. The ruler of Kiev was also in effect the ruler of all the Rus' principalities. Kievan Rus' declined during the Mongol invasion. This is also the origin of the term "Rus'ki" (today understood as Ukrainians; and "Russki," today understood as 'Russians'). "Rus'" in it's more general secondary meaning was applied to all Rus' principalities (today comprising "Belarus," "Russia", and "Ukraine".
The term "Ukraine" is fairly ancient, and originated some time in the 11th century. It was originally a geographic term meaning "borderland". At that time, Ukraine was synonymous with Rus' proper (Rus' Propria) Malo Rus (lesser Rus). The term Ruthenian originally meant "Rus'", but later applied only to West Ukrainians (Galicians), originally it was a term often applied to the Rus' by Europeans (Poles, Germans and Turks especially)
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