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- The name Belarus can be literally translated as White Ruthenia or Baltic Ruthenia. In Balto-Slavic culture, the white color (Belarusian: белы, romanized: biely, Lithuanian: baltas) designates North, this is why originally name of White Rus' was used to refer to northernmost settlements of Kyivan Rus' by the shores of White Sea, which is a historical region of medieval Novgorod Land. After Novgorod Republic left Rus' confederation North Eastern lands of the modern Republic of Belarus became the northernmost ones and were also called in Latin as Ruthenia Alba (English: White Rus). The name has been in use in western Europe for some time, along with ethnonyms Baltoruthenes, Baltorusins, White Ruthenes, White Russians (though not to be confused with the political group of White Russians that opposed the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War) and similar forms. Belarusians trace their name back to the people of Rus'. The term Belarusians was promoted mostly during the 19th century by the Russian Empire as an ethnonym for Balto-Ruthenian population instead of politonym Litvin which became prohibited after an annexation of the lands of Grand Duchy of Lithuania. For instance, this can be traced by editions of folklorist Ivan Sakharov, where in the edition of 1836, Belarusian customs are described as Litvin, while in the edition of 1886, the words Литва (Lithuania) and Литовцо-руссы (Lithuanian-Russians / Ruthenians) are replaced by respectively Белоруссия (Byelorussia) and белорусы (Byelorussians). An ethno-religious theory suggests that the name used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that had been populated mostly by Slavs who had been Christianized early, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, which was predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts. An alternative explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. Another theory suggests that the old Rus' lands that were not conquered by the Tatars (i.e., Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev) had been referred to as "White Rus'". A fifth theory suggests that the color white was associated with the west, and Belarus was the western part of Rus in the 9th-13th centuries. (en)
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| rdfs:comment
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- The name Belarus can be literally translated as White Ruthenia or Baltic Ruthenia. In Balto-Slavic culture, the white color (Belarusian: белы, romanized: biely, Lithuanian: baltas) designates North, this is why originally name of White Rus' was used to refer to northernmost settlements of Kyivan Rus' by the shores of White Sea, which is a historical region of medieval Novgorod Land. After Novgorod Republic left Rus' confederation North Eastern lands of the modern Republic of Belarus became the northernmost ones and were also called in Latin as Ruthenia Alba (English: White Rus). The name has been in use in western Europe for some time, along with ethnonyms Baltoruthenes, Baltorusins, White Ruthenes, White Russians (though not to be confused with the political group of White Russians that o (en)
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