Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T15:00:00.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Name “White Russia”1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2018

Nicholas P. Vakar
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The term Belorussia is not well known outside the Slavic world. The area is more frequently referred to as "White Russia." Since 1917, however, use of the latter term has become a source of confusion. The Russians who fought against the Reds in the Civil War of 1918-20 were also called "White Russians." Although in Russian the term Belorussy, the ethnic group, and Belye Russkie, the political group, are easily distinguishable, there is no way of making the distinction clear in literal translation into English. Many people still cannot understand how an anti-Soviet group succeeded in organizing a republic within the Soviet Union, and why its members are called "white" after they have turned "red." In view of the general confusion, it is perhaps time to suggest that when referring to the ethnic group, the term Belorussian replace the term "White Russian" in our libraries, documents and literature.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , October 1949 , pp. 201 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1949

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

The research basic to this paper was partially supported by a grant from the Russian Research Center of Harvard University.

References

Bibliographical Note

A. E., , “Belaja Rus',” Russkaja Enciklopedija (Brockhaus and Efron, 1891), v, 173-74.Google Scholar
D'jakonov, M. “Istorija russkogo prava,” Russkaja Enciklopedija (Brockhaus and Efron, 1899), XXVIII, 516, 521.Google Scholar
Dovnar-Zapolski, M. Asnovy dzeržawnasci Belarusi. Grodno, 1919.Google Scholar
Engelhardt von, E. Weissruthenien (Berlin-Amsterdam-Prague, 1943), pp. 13–19.Google Scholar
Golubinskij, E. Istorija russkoj cerkvi (2nd ed., Moscow, 1901), I, Part 1, 485.Google Scholar
Grégoire, H. “L'origine et le nom des croates et des serbes,” Byzantion, XVII (1944-45), 88–118.Google Scholar
Herberstein, S. Rerum Moscovitarum commentarii. Vienna, 1549; English translation by Major, R. H., Notes Upon Russia, I—II, London, 1851-52; see also Zamyslovskij, E., Herberstein i ego istoriko-geografičeskie izvestija o Rossii. St. Petersburg, 1884.Google Scholar
HruŠEvskij, M. Kievskaja Rus'; (St. Petersburg, 1911), I, 255 (Footnote).Google Scholar
Il'inskij, G. “K voprosu o proiskhoždenii Nazvanija ‘;Belaja Rus’,” Slavia, VI (1927-28), 388-93-Google Scholar
Karamzin, N. Istorija gosudarstva Rossijskogo, Vol. I.Google Scholar
E. Belorussy, Karskij (Warsaw, 1903), I, 116-18.Google Scholar
Khlebnikov, N. obščestvo i gosudarstvo v do-mongol'skij period russkoj istorii (St. Petersburg, 1872), p. 282.Google Scholar
Lamanskij, V. I. “Belaja Rus',” Živaja Starina, 1891, I, No. 3, 243-50. Professor Lamanskij alone, of all the historians who wrote about Belorussia, made a special study of the name “White Russia,” and he left his work unfinished.Google Scholar
Lappo, I. Zapadnaja Rossija i eë soedinenie s Pol'šej v ikh istoričeskom prošlom. Prague, 1924.Google Scholar
Larned, J. N. The New Larned History, 1924.Google Scholar
Leroy-Beaulieu, A. Empire of the Tsars and Russians (New York, 1896), Vol. I.Google Scholar
Ljubavskij, M. Očerk istorii Litovsko-Russkogo gosudarstva do Ljublinskoj unii vključtel'no (Moscow, 1911), Vol. I.Google Scholar
Miljukov, P. Glavnye tečenija russkoj istoričeskoj mysli (2nd ed., Moscow, 1898), I, 265.Google Scholar
Petition of the White Ruthenian Republic. Paris Peace Conference, Paris, 1919.Google Scholar
Potebnja, A. “Belaja Rus',” Žlivaja Starina, I (1891), No. 3, 118-19.Google Scholar
Semënov, P. Geografičeskij slovar’ Rossijskoj Imperii. St. Petersburg, 1863.Google Scholar
Smolič, A. Heohrafija Belarusi. Vilno, 1925.Google Scholar
Struve, P. “Nabljudenija i issledovanija iz oblasti khozjajstvennoj žizni i prava drevnej Rusi,” Sbornik Russkogo Instituta v Prage (Prague, 1929), I, 463-70.Google Scholar
Sulimirski, W. “Bialoruś,” Słownik Geograficzny Polski. Warsaw, 1880.Google Scholar
Sumner, B. N. A Short History of Russia (New York, 1944), p. 140.Google Scholar
Svencickij, I. Narysy z istorii ukraïns'koï movy (Lvov, 1920), p. 84.Google Scholar
Tatiščev, V. Istorija Rossijskaja … (Moscow, 1768-1848), Vol. V.Google Scholar
Tred'jakovskij, V. Tri razsuždenija o trëkh glavnejšikh drevnostjakh rossijskikh … (St. Petersburg, 1773), p. 116.Google Scholar
Turčinovič, O. Obozrenie istorii Belorussii s drevnejšikh vremen. St. Petersburg, 1857.Google Scholar
Vernadsky, G. Ancient Russia (New Haven, 1943), p. 272.Google Scholar
Vešnjakov, V. “Belopašcy i Obel'nye votčinniki i krest'jane,” Žurnal Ministerstva Gosudarstvennykh Imuščestv. St. Petersburg, 1859.Google Scholar
Vladimircev, B. Obščestvennyj stroj mongolov. Leningrad, 1934.Google Scholar
Zograf, N. Russkie narody (Moscow, 1894), pp. 18–19.Google Scholar