Until now, different versions of the origin of the name "Rus" are competing, but none of them has yet decisive evidence. However, it is reliably known that already in the middle of the 10th century, the entire space of the Eastern Slavs from the Black to the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathians to the Upper Volga was called Rus.
This is stated in the treaty between Prince Igor and Byzantium (944), where ambassadors from different cities - Kiev, Novgorod, Rostov the Great, and others - collectively call themselves "the Russian clan."
A narrower use of the term "Rus" also appears in the annals. Often they say that one of the princes "went to Russia" from the same Novgorod, Rostov or Galich. In this case, Rus means the land around Kiev, Chernigov, Pereyaslavl, Novgorod-Seversky, Kursk. This understanding of Russia is often found in sources dating back to the XI-XII centuries. Academicians B. A. Rybakov and V. V. Sedov spent a lot of effort to prove that it was on this territory that the Slavic tribe Russia, unknown to sources, once lived.
The name "Russia" comes from the Greek language. This word - Ρωςια - in Byzantium also denoted the Old Russian state from the 10th century. From the end of the 10th - the beginning of the 11th century, in Western Europe, in relation to Kievan Rus, terms with the root Russ- (or Ruzz-, Rusc-) began to be used. Since the 11th century, the name Russia has been increasingly used. Since the XII century, according to the fashion of the time, to bring the names of modern peoples closer to the ancient ones, Russia in the West is often called Ruthenia (the Ruthenes were one of the Gallic tribes that Julius Caesar conquered).
Thus, the words "Rus", Russia, Ruthenia, Ρωςια were synonyms and meant one and the same country, even at a time when it was split into many states, and then fell under the rule of the Mongol khans. The inhabitants of Russia themselves called themselves Rusyns, regardless of the principality in which they lived (the name of the main city of the earth was used to designate state ownership - Novgorodians, Suzdal, Smolyan, Ryazan, etc.). Longest of all, the name “Rusyns” (precisely in this sound) was retained in Western Ukraine, where, back in the 30s of the XX century, many Slavs of Transcarpathia called themselves so.
The fragmentation of Russia and Mongol domination led to a reduction in ties between North-Eastern Russia (from which Russia later grew) and Western Europe. In the West in the XIV-XV centuries. used to call Russia the Slavic lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, of which this state consisted of more than 90%. And when, at the end of the 15th century, Moscow united the rest of the Russian lands under its rule, the West was surprised to find that, in addition to Lithuanian Russia (i.e., present-day Ukraine and Belarus), there is also some kind of Moscow Russia.
Contrary to popular belief, the inhabitants of the Muscovite never called themselves Muscovites. This is a Western term, coined to distinguish Russians - subjects of the Grand Duke of Moscow - from Russians - subjects of the Grand Duke of Lithuania and the King of Poland. At the same time, the self-name “Rusyn” is also disappearing from the everyday life of Moscow citizens. The latter usually refer to themselves by confession - Orthodox Christians, since it was believed that after the conquest of Constantinople and all the Balkan countries by the Basurmans (Turks), Muscovite Russia remained the only Orthodox kingdom in the world. But the official name - the Moscow State - was used in Russian acts until the end of the 17th century (in particular, in the Cathedral Code of 1649). Along with this, and in the same documents, the name Russia or Russia is increasingly encountered,former tracing paper from Greek Ρωςια. It is necessary to distinguish between the use of the terms "Moscow State" and "Russia / Rusia". For Russian tsars and their subjects of the XVI-XVII centuries. The Muscovite state is only a political entity under the rule of the Moscow monarch. Russia / Russia is a country where they speak Russian and profess the Orthodox faith; that is, Russia / Rusia included Ukraine and Belarus, which were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (created in 1569 by the final unification of Poland and Lithuania). The title of the Moscow sovereigns, added to the listing of the capitals and countries that belonged to them - "and of all Russia (s)", first appeared under Prince Simeon Gord (1340-1353) and symbolized their "patrimonial right" to the entire legacy of Rurik's house. The Romanovs, who reigned in 1613, did not renounce this "right" either. It is necessary to distinguish between the use of the terms "Moscow State" and "Russia / Rusia". For Russian tsars and their subjects of the XVI-XVII centuries. The Muscovite state is only a political entity under the rule of the Moscow monarch. Russia / Russia is a country where they speak Russian and profess the Orthodox faith; that is, Russia / Rusia included Ukraine and Belarus, which were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (created in 1569 by the final unification of Poland and Lithuania). The title of the Moscow sovereigns, added to the listing of the capitals and countries that belonged to them - "and of all Russia (s)", first appeared under Prince Simeon Gord (1340-1353) and symbolized their "patrimonial right" to the entire legacy of Rurik's house. The Romanovs, who reigned in 1613, did not renounce this "right" either. It is necessary to distinguish between the use of the terms "Moscow State" and "Russia / Rusia". For Russian tsars and their subjects of the XVI-XVII centuries. The Muscovite state is only a political unit under the rule of the Moscow monarch. Russia / Russia is a country where they speak Russian and profess the Orthodox faith; that is, Russia / Rusia included Ukraine and Belarus, which were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (created in 1569 by the final unification of Poland and Lithuania). The title of the Moscow sovereigns, added to the listing of the capitals and countries that belonged to them - "and of all Russia (s)", first appeared under Prince Simeon Gord (1340-1353) and symbolized their "patrimonial right" to the entire legacy of Rurik's house. The Romanovs, who reigned in 1613, did not renounce this "right" either. The Muscovite state is only a political unit under the rule of the Moscow monarch. Russia / Russia is a country where they speak Russian and profess the Orthodox faith; that is, Russia / Rusia included Ukraine and Belarus, which were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (created in 1569 by the final unification of Poland and Lithuania). The title of the Moscow sovereigns, added to the listing of the capitals and countries that belonged to them - "and of all Russia (s)", first appeared under Prince Simeon Gord (1340-1353) and symbolized their "patrimonial right" to the entire legacy of Rurik's house. The Romanovs, who reigned in 1613, did not renounce this "right" either. The Muscovite state is only a political entity under the rule of the Moscow monarch. Russia / Russia is a country where they speak Russian and profess the Orthodox faith; that is, Russia / Rusia included Ukraine and Belarus, which were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (created in 1569 by the final unification of Poland and Lithuania). The title of the Moscow sovereigns, added to the listing of the capitals and countries that belonged to them - "and of all Russia (s)", first appeared under Prince Simeon Gord (1340-1353) and symbolized their "patrimonial right" to the entire legacy of Rurik's house. The Romanovs, who reigned in 1613, did not renounce this "right" either.included in the Rzeczpospolita (created in 1569 by the final unification of Poland and Lithuania). The title of the Moscow sovereigns, added to the listing of the capitals and countries that belonged to them - "and of all Russia (s)", first appeared under Prince Simeon Gord (1340-1353) and symbolized their "patrimonial right" to the entire legacy of Rurik's house. The Romanovs, who reigned in 1613, did not renounce this "right" either.included in the Rzeczpospolita (created in 1569 by the final unification of Poland and Lithuania). The title of the Moscow sovereigns, added to the listing of the capitals and countries that belonged to them - "and of all Russia (s)", first appeared under Prince Simeon Gord (1340-1353) and symbolized their "patrimonial right" to the entire legacy of Rurik's house. The Romanovs, who reigned in 1613, did not renounce this "right" either.
The royal title "and of All Russia" was directly borrowed from the title of the head of the Russian Church. The Russian Metropolitanate remained unified until the middle of the 15th century. Metropolitans, formally called Kiev, lived in Vladimir from 1299, and from 1328 mainly in Moscow. When the Orthodox clergy of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania managed to procure a special metropolitan for themselves in Constantinople, the Moscow metropolitans (from 1588 the patriarchs) continued to add “and all Russia” to their title.
Promotional video:
In the 17th century, the ties of Muscovy / Russia with Western Europe were strengthened. The familiar name, under the influence of the term Russia, is undergoing transformation again. The second "s" appears in the word. Since the beginning of the 18th century, the spelling "Russia" has become predominant. It was finally established when, in 1721, after the victory in the Northern War, Peter I officially called the state the Russian Empire. Then, in all Russian documents, and soon in the West, the concept of the Moscow state, Muscovy, disappeared.
In the XVIII - early XX century. (until 1917) Russia had three meanings: 1) the entire state under the rule of the All-Russian Emperor; 2) a country inhabited by the Russian people in the broad sense of the word (ie, including Ukrainians / Malorussians and Belarusians), but without the "foreign" outskirts of the empire; 3) a country of only the Great Russian tribe (excluding the Little Russians and Belarusians).
Yaroslav Butakov