LL-L "Language politics" 2005.09.30 (06) [E]

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From: Szelog, Mike <Mike.Szelog at cfgcustomers.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2005.09.30 (02) [E]

Hello all,

Not to get off-subject, but....Just my two cents -

I have been doing genealogy for some time and one of the areas I concentrate
on is Polish/Ukrainian lines (specifically "Galicians").

Yes, the old term was "Rusnak" - you still hear it used. As to the
'po-nashemu", many Ukrainians at the turn of the last century when asked
their nationality would reply "Austrian" (Asthey were part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire) or "Greek-Catholic", or the old term "Ruthenian".
If asked what language they spoke, the common reply was "po-nashemu", or
"rus'kyj". As one immigrant put it in a 1986 interview, "The 'professor'
came and said "Call yourselves Ukrainians," we were still saying "rus'kyj" -
church - everything was "rus'kyj, rus'kyj, rus'kyj". And that professor came
and said, "You aren't rus'kyj, you're "ukraintsi." (Tekla Mihal - 88 -
immigrant from Mshanets' village, Staryj Sambir region, L'viwska oblast).
For many in the old area of Galicia, national identity as "Ukrainians" was
really not much thought of.

The Rusnaks/Rusyns and Lemkos still kept their particular differences and
did/do not consider themselves to be Ukrainians nor their language a dialect
thereof.

Early examples of written Rusyn (I have a copy of some old letters) can also
be found to be written in Roman script using Polish orthography. From what
I've seen of the language, I tend to veer on the side of a dialect of
Ukrainian - it's just different enough to be a real pain when trying to
translate it :-)

As someone pointed out already, the main religion was/is Orthodox rather
then Greek-Catholic (so-called Uniate or Ukraine Catholic). Though both
allow priests to marry and the difference between the two is quite minimal,
it seems the Rusyns and Lemkos may have used this as a way to differentiate
themselves from their Polish and Ukrainian neighbors.

An example of this is the Ukraine Catholic church in here in Manchester (St.
Mary). When it was finally built and it came time to place a cross on the
top, the decision whether to place a regular "Roman Cross" or the "Tri-Beam
Cross" was a matter of extreme dissention; most wanted the Roman Cross, but
there was a group, predominantly Lemkos, who wanted the Tri-Beam. Riots
actually broke out in the following weeks with many arrests having been
made. The final decision of the church was the Roman Cross. This promptly
resulted in a schism in the church in Manchester - the Lemkos broke away
from the church and formed another church (Ss. Peter & Paul); very Russian
looking (onion domes) and , yes, the Tri-Beam cross. What's interesting is
that the corner stone of the church (written in Ukrainian) tells the reader
that the church is a "Russian Orthodox Greek-Catholic Galician Church."

 Mike S
Manchester, NH

From: Larry Granberg <nibwit at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2005.09.29 (04) [E]

Rusyn is a relatively late term, prior were po-nashemu meaning our way and
Rusnjak. When speaking family and close friends you refer to those there as
"Rusnjaks". Rusyn can be translated as Sons of Rus' and Rusnjak of or from
Rus', or a Rus.

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