Аннотация: The terms "Litvin", "Great-Lithuanian", "East-Republican" in modern historical and political science. An essay.
The terms "Litvin", "Great-Lithuanian", "East-Republican" in modern historical and political science. An essay.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania existed for about 500 years (from 1219 [conditional, approximate date] to 1795). It was a European state, huge in area, quite powerful and enough civilized, democratic (for medieval Europe).
Its population was 2-3 million.
In most states, there are generalized names of the inhabitants of these states. For example, Bolivians live in Bolivia, Americans live in the United States, Canadians live in Canada, etc.
For a number of reasons, the (modern) inhabitants of the 21st century do not know exactly the generalized name of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
What are these reasons?
After 1795, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became the territory of the Russian Empire, turned into several the Russial provinces.
Western Europe during this period shifted its attention to the wars against Napoleon.
The Russian Empire had no inclination to support any memories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Thus, in the European historical and political science, there was a certain information vacuum regarding the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
This vacuum was largely filled by the "History" by Nikolai Karamzin (fundamental "History of the Russian State", a 12-volume national history"). The general approach of this work was to make the Grand Duchy of Lithuania transparent, almost invisible.
One way to achieve this goal was to name the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as "Lithuanians".
It was an effective way to control the attention (and consciousness) of the mass readership.
The word "Lithuanians" directed the attention of readers, huge layers of the educated European public to the relatively small coastal Baltic territory inhabited by ethnic Lithuanians. Accordingly, the huge Grand Duchy of Lithuania was disappearing from the historical and political picture of Europeans.
In Nikolai Karamzin's "History", we also find a fragmentary, single use of the term "Litvin". The term "Litvin" did not at all refute the use of the term "Lithuanians": first, because of the comparative rarity of the use (which is obvious), as well as because of the insufficiently precise meaning of the word "Litvin" (which is partly a supposed logical thought).
To illustrate, we take: "The History of the Russian state (Karamzin)/Volume XII / Chapter V. Interregnum. The years 1611-1612.'
Four references to "Lithuanians" in different forms:
"...The Lithuanian hetman Chodkiewicz, famous for his experience and courage, having hitherto acted with success against the Swedes, was summoned from Livonia to march with an army to Moscow...'
"...The hetman rode through the Krakow suburb to the palace with a squad of noble horsemen, with Nobles of the Crown and Lithuanian, in sixty carriages ( ... ) Vasily's face depicted sadness (...). All eyes were fixed on the deposed Monarch with the keenest curiosity and delight: the thought of the vicissitudes of Fate and pity for misfortune did not interfere with the delight of the Lyakhs [it means: locals of Poland]...'
"...not only our Lithuanian co-religionists, but also the Polish Nobles, marveling at his [Filaret's] firmness, intelligence, and generosity, showed sincere respect for him.'
"...then the crown of the Monomachs, torn from the hands of the Lithuanians, could probably be returned to the descendants of the Varangians ...'
In the same text, there are eight references to"Lithuania". For example: "We Novogorodtsy, rejecting King Sigismund and his heirs, Lithuania and the treacherous Poles, recognize the King of Sweden as our protector and patron, so that Russia and Sweden together resist this common enemy ...".
The mention of the word "Litvin": "... Prince Litvinov-Mosalsky ...'
This concludes a brief count of the words "Lithuanians" and "Litvins" in Karamzin's "History".
In 1918, the historical cycle of the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was completed. The historical cycle of overcoming the partition, the cycle of restoring the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth has begun.
In the new historical conditions, there is a need to describe the history and prospects of the Great-Lithuanian State, and, also, to use a generalized name of the inhabitants of such a state.
Here, researchers and authors are faced with the fact that the information space is filled with the Karamzin's "History" and with his "Lithuanians".
However, under Karamzin there were territories inhabited by ethnic Lithuanians. That is, there was an ethnic Lithuania.
Lithuania as a state inhabited mainly by ethnic Lithuanians did not exist in the era of Karamzin.
In our time, there is an independent, sovereign Lithuanian state.
To call the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania "Lithuanians" means to create terminological confusion, conceptual inaccuracy.
How do modern researchers and authors find a way out of this situation?
One example is the use of the terms "Litvins" and "Ruthenians" by Anaïs Marin in her work "Myth 11. 'The peoples of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia are one nation'" (Myths and misconceptions in the debate on Russia. How they affect Western policy, and what can be done. Report. Russia and Eurasia Programme | May 2021. Chatham House) (https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/05/myths-and-misconceptions-debate-russia/summary
(accessed 21 May 2021)).
"...Litvins and Ruthenians in the western part of Kievan Rus ' belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, a powerful multinational state which, at its height in the 14th century, controlled most of present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine.'
Interestingly, Anaïs Marin called "Litvins" and "Ruthenians", but she did not use the term "Lithuanians".
So, the terms "Litvins" and "Ruthenians" are used. Are these terms suitable for the generalized naming of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania?
Rusyns ["Ruthenians"] is the name of the population living mainly in the lands of Galicia, Bukovina, Transcarpathia. (Rusyns are an East Slavic people who speak the Rusyn language. They have also been called Ruthenians, Carpatho-Ruthenians or, incorrectly, Carpatho-Russians. Rusyns descend from an East Slavic population that inhabited the northern regions of the Eastern Carpathians from the Early Middle Ages. - Wikipedia). Obviously, such term is not suitable for the generalized name of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
"Litvins".
In modern Russian, the word "Litvin" is practically not used. This word produces strange (intuitively) impression. However, let's move on from intuitive impressions to the explanatory dictionary of Vladimir Dah (Vladimir Dal's Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language).
What do we find in the dictionary of Vladimir Dahl?
"Litvins myakinniki; in general, the nickname of Belarusians and Pskov.'
"Litvins (...) twigs or pillars on the stack, so that it is not scattered by the wind. (...) the same, twigs; [instruments] for binding of rafts.'
"Lithuanian koltun. the expletive Litvin. ( ... ) Koltuny, kolduny (...) Lithuanian kolduny, a dish made in the western provinces, or dumplings.'
Thus, if you analize what was read by you in Dal's dictionary, it turns out that the word "Litvin" it's a a nickname with a light negative connotation.
The Karamzin's "History" was published in the period 1818-1829. The dictionary of Vladimir Dal was created since 1819. The first four-volume edition was published between 1863 and 1866.
So, the information we received from the Dictionary of Vladimir Dal does not give any arguments in favor of the fact that the term "Litvin" can be used for the generalized name of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. On the contrary, everything that is contained in this dictionary regarding the word "Litvin" encourages the rejection, refusal of the use of the word "Litvin" for the generalized name of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
(Explanatory dictionary of Ushakov Dmitry Nikolayevich (published in four volumes in 1935-1940). Litvin (obsolete) - Lithuanian).
As a result, we come to the expediency of constructing new terms for the generalized name of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Note that in 2017-2018 we proposed the terms "Velikolithuanian" [Great-Lithuanian, великолитовец], "Velikolithuanians" [Great-Lithuanians, великолитовцы] for the generalized name of the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the term "East-Republican" [восточнореспубликанец], "East-Republicans" [восточнореспубликанцы] for the generalized naming of the inhabitants of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
[XXV. Dialogue about Velikolithuanians. - September 26, 2017.
LXXXIV. Velikolithuanians. - January 3, 2018.
MCXLVIII. "Inhabitants of Rech Pospolita" - "East-republicans"? An essay. - November 27, 2019.
MCLXIX. A Russian literature - A Soviet literature - A Russial literature. A new ideas. An essay on the problems of a literary history. - December 14, 2019.
MDCXLIV. Sergei Furgal, Mikhail Degtyarev. August 13, 2020. Trends. An ultra-short overview. - August 13, 2020.].
[DCCCLXVI. The Sketch how Vanya Zhukov translated the word "Russian" from Russian into English and improved the language of Shakespeare. - May 31, 2019.
CMXLV. The Sketch about Sergei Sergeyevich's reflections of how a "media pool" "operates". - July 11, 2019.
MMXXX. How to play by four hands with Seryozha? A linguistic note. - February 24, 2021.
MMXXXII. Probit' - the history of the notion. A linguistic version. - February 24, 2021.
MMLXXV. Writer. What does this word mean? A linguistic note. - March 18, 2021.
MMСLXXIV. 1125th myth on Russia on Kosti-NF. A story. - May 21, 2021.].
May 22, 2021 07:30
Translation from Russian into English: May 22, 2021 11:10.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Термины 'литвин', 'великолитовец', 'восточно-республиканец' в современной исторической и политической науке. Очерк'.