The Ruthenian

From POLAND : Key to Europe, 1939 by Raymond Leslie Buell

Ukrainian historians, such as Professor Hrushevsky, deny the Russian thesis that the eastern Slavs were an established unity in prehistoric times. They contend that the southern group of eastern Slavs were independent of the Russians proper. In the opinion of the Ukrainians, the Kingdom of Kiev, which flourished during the ninth and tent centuries, was Ukrainian rather that Russian.⁶ During this period the Kiev kings were known as Ruthenians, and the term Russ, which Russia subsequently adopted, was first applied to Kiev and the surrounding country. Although the Kingdom was divided among a number of princes, the first of whom was King of Kiev, a body of common law called " Ruthenian Truth " generally prevailed and, with the acceptance off Christianity, a common church was established subject to the Metropolitan of Kiev.⁷

      ⁶ Professor Clarence A. Manning, of the Department of East European Languages of Columbia University,writes me that " prior to1500 there are few clear indications of a difference between Great Russian and Ukrainian in language, and it is almost impossible to separate the two groups in essential elements of culture. But it is unqualifiedly false to state that Kiev in the tenth century was as distinct from the rest of Russia as are the Ukrainians from the Czechs. The Tartar invasions and the rise of Poland-Lithuania broke a unity that was slowly developing. when Moscow freed itself from the Tatars, it resumed a development which it had always regarded as an outgrowth of Kiev."
      ⁷ Hrushevsky, op. cit., sec. 32.   [ '. . . . an abridged History of the Ukraine by Michael Hrushevsky, translated into English by Wasil Halich and to be published shortly.' : Note #3 on page 255. (WPT)]

During the thirteenth century the Kiev Kingdom fell apart, owing to internal conflict and attack from the Tatars.   (Etc.)

Although the princes fled the eastern part of the Kingdom, the western part, called Galicia, continued to develop. Its ruler, King Daniel, became a vassal of the Tatar Khan about 1245. Despite the decline of the Tatars, the princes of Kiev failed to restore their former Kingdom ; and in 1339 Poland and Hungary made a secret treaty agreeing to divide up Galicia — prophetic of the policy followed by these two powers at the expense of Czechoslovakia in 1938. About 1340 King Casimir, after persuading the Tatars not to interfere, succeeded in conquering Galicia with the aid of Hungarian troops,⁸ creating a division between and western Ukraine which has continued to the present day. Under Polish domination the breach widened between Russian proper* and the Ukrainian (south Russian) language. The latter acquired a number of Polish words, originally of German origin.⁹

      ⁸ Cf. Stanisław Zakrzewski ; Zagadnienia Historyczne   (Historical Problems)   (Lwów, 1936), Vol. II, pp. 245 ff.
      ⁹ " The Two Ukrainias " (by a Correspondent), The Economist, February 4, 1939. For the Uniat Church cf. p. 33 [of this volume].

Comment : Transplanted via the Polish could be German, Czech, Italian, Latin, words, but chiefly Latin -- these in turn often via the German, Czech, Italian, etc., sources, but most often the original Latin, and the Medieval Latin that was in uniform use by the Polish authors then just as in the rest of the Roman-influenced Europe.

On the other hand, a number of the words from the East had found their way into Polish, some of them via Polish into the German, etc. One likely reliable author on these matters could be Aleksander Brückner--so far as I know.  

I do not know about 'the breach . . . between Russian proper and the Ukrainian' because there was no such a thing at all as 'Russia' before the conquest by Moscow of parts of Ruthenia. To what exactly language this 'Russian proper' might refer (before there was Russia) I do not know, at this stage.   (WPT, 14 Nov 04, rev 27 Nov 04).

When the Kingdom of Lithuania was at its zenith, between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, it seized most of White Russia, drove the Tatar horde out of Kiev, and tried to deprive Poland of Galicia as well. But this struggle came to an end with the union of Poland and Lithuania on Jadwiga's marriage ; and by 1569 the whole of the Ukraine had become part of the Polish Kingdom.   (Etc.).

Comment : without endeavouring to tamper with the present-day Ukrainians, one notes that the name 'Ukraine' is relatively recent, and some of the remarks by Buell, as reliable an author as any could be found, are nevertheless inaccurate. When the lands of the present-day Ukraine had become part of the Polish Kingdom the term 'Ukraine' had not yet been used -- so far as I know. But, to speak of the early kingdom of Kiev as 'Ukraine' made even less sense.

Unfortunately, the discrepancies between various scholars are numerous, entirely legitimate issues are often being confounded with one another. Here, no other than some ways of sorting this all out are being considered.   (WPT, 14 Nov 04).

New York * London : A. Knopf 1938, 1939, pp. 256-8.

Selected bibliographic

Baffin, William, d. 1622. A Voyage to Greenland, with six Ships and a Pinnace, set forth by the Muscovia Company, under the Command of Benjamin Joseph and Thomas Edge, Anno Dom. 1613: 1705 21 Details/Locations Edge, Thomas, d. 1624. The Ten several Voyages of Captain Thomas Edge and others to Greenland (called by the Dutch Spitsbergen) at the Charge of the worshipful Muscovia Company. 1705

Edge, Thomas, d. 1624. The Ten several Voyages of Captain Thomas Edge and others to Greenland (called by the Dutch Spitsbergen) at the Charge of the worshipful Muscovia Company. 1705

Note : http://www.oekraine.com/core/history_e.htm