ruthenia.news

[Alexander Ushakov]

Me, too. According to P. Magocsi, "The imperial (Austrian - A.U.) government ... was convinced of the distinctiveness of Galicia's East Slavs, even though the East Slavs...called themselves rusyny (Rusyns), or rus'kyi (Rusyn), which to outsiders sounded very much like Russian. The Austrian government therefore did not designate them as Russen, the German equivalent of Russian, but as Ruthenen (English: Ruthenian). In fact, Ruthenen was the only official designation given to Ukrainians living in the Habsburg Empire until its demise in 1918." (A History of Ukraine, Univ. of Toronto, 1996, p. 397). 

The above is a well-known fact, I believe, to contemporary Russian scholars. However, it looks like the site ruthenia.ru has little to do with (Western) Ukraine. They probably believe 'Ruthenia' stands for Russia, which idea - sometimes expanded to cover also Ukraine and Belarus - was widely promoted by official Soviet science and is supported in post-Soviet Russia, as well (however, let's remember the fate of the name "Russia" itself).  

Alex Ushakov, translator
Russian, Ukrainian, Polish
   
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Robert De Lossa <rdelossa at FAS.HARVARD.EDU>
To: <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2000 3:11 PM
Subject: Re: ruthenia.news


> Anyone out there as perplexed by this use of "Ruthenia" as I am? Comments
> on what "Ruthenia" means to contemporary Russian scholars would be
> appreciated.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Rob De Lossa
> 
> ____________________________________________________
> Robert De Lossa
> Director of Publications
> Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University
> 1583 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138
> 617-496-8768; fax. 617-495-8097
> reply to: rdelossa at fas.harvard.edu
> http://www.sabre.org/huri/
> 
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