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We seem to go through this every couple of years.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/0JvT3m">http://goo.gl/0JvT3m</a><br>
[quoting a Guardian article from 2004]<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Moscow's goal was to eliminate Ukraine and
Ukrainians as political and cultural entities. Soviet translators,
who knew the patterns for country names in English, deliberately
translated the name of this area with the article 'the' because it
then sounds to English-speakers like a part of a country rather
than the name of an individual, independent country.</blockquote>
<br>
I'm going to call bullshit on that one. There's no "the Latvia", no
"the Kazakhstan", not even "the Belarus".<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/wzctX">http://goo.gl/wzctX</a><br>
<blockquote type="cite">There are many other country names that are
habitually referred to with "the", such as Congo, Gambia, Yemen,
Lebanon, Sudan, Netherlands, Philippines and Bahamas.<br>
<br>
But according to several authoritative sources, such as the CIA
World Factbook, the Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World and the
US Department of State, only two countries, The Bahamas and The
Gambia, should officially be referred to with the article.<br>
<br>
The two Congos are officially Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Republic of the Congo. And the longer, official name for
Netherlands is Kingdom of the Netherlands.</blockquote>
<br>
[the three links in the quoted text are <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/nqZw">http://goo.gl/nqZw</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/I6RE9D">http://goo.gl/I6RE9D</a> and <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/03pUu">http://goo.gl/03pUu</a> . I didn't check if
they work.]<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/uwsc59">http://goo.gl/uwsc59</a><br>
<blockquote type="cite">Until a few decades ago, Ukraine was almost
always referred to as <i>the </i>Ukraine. Then people started
dropping the definite article, and now you almost never see it.
What gives?<br>
...<br>
Most historians and linguists agree that the name Ukraine comes
from the Slavic ukraina, meaning "borderlands." Since many
countries whose names derive from a geographical feature or factor
have a definite article--"the Philippines" referring to the
Philippine islands, "the Netherlands" meaning "the lowlands"--the
Ukraine makes sense in terms of "the borderlands."<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Nice save. I doubt there's much evidence behind it. But it comes
with a nice Ngram--unfortunately only going back to 1945. Ugh! Even
worse--Grammar Girl only goes back to 1961, with the same
explanation:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/JlpqSD">http://goo.gl/JlpqSD</a><br>
<br>
She also mentions the "subjugation" theory, but more dismissively.<br>
<br>
VS-)<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/5/2014 6:11 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:201403051111.s2561eoP027928@willow.cc.uga.edu"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Tweet message:
Author: Di W â€@di_f_w
Time stamp: 5:46 AM 5 Mar 2014
[Begin excerpt]
I wonder why we started saying "the Ukraine" and who I need to talk to
about getting a power name like "the New Zealand"
[End excerpt]
Wikipedia: Name of Ukraine
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Ukraine</a>
[Begin excerpt]
The name "Ukraine" (Ukrainian: Україна Ukrayina [ukraˈjina]) has been
used in a variety of ways since the twelfth century. Today, it is the
official name of Ukraine, the country in Eastern Europe. Previously
the country was generally called The Ukraine in English, but this
usage is on the wane and officially deprecated by the Ukrainian
government and many English language media publications.
[End excerpt]
</pre>
</blockquote>
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