Etymology of Ukraine 

Corrections and notes: evidently the ó of Irish surnames has a different etymology, meaning "grandson;" the etymological book I was using must have had outdated information. I am aware that the Ukrainian goverment recommends the spelling "Kyiv" as well as "Ukraine" without the article. I personally favor these two choices. However, I am not a prescriptivist (one who says there must be only one correct linguistic form, whether in spelling or pronunciation, etc.) and I favor descriptivism as this is the policy of describing how language actually is. And the notion that traditional usages in English like "Kiev" and "the Ukraine" are expressions of support for the Russians government or its war against Ukraine, is intellectually dishonest in my estimation. They are merely linguistic habits. It would be equally wrong to say that spelling the Italian cities "Milan," "Florence," "Venice," and "Rome" is support for the Napoleonic French Empire's conquest of Italy. Contrary to what some have expressed, the article "the" in front of a country name does not make that place sound like a mere territory of a sovereign state - this is not how English works - otherwise the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the Gambia, the United States would all have a problem too, while Alberta, Kansas, and Tuscany would all sound like independent nations. And if propagandists from the Russian government are trying to convince English speakers to use the article in order to align their speech with Putin's perception of Ukraine, then they are as idiotic as they are wicked. However, I can appreciate the Ukrainians wanting not to stand out in this regard, and thus recommending English speakers say simply "Ukraine." I also support "Czechia" as the name of that country in English, and I don't use "the Czech Republic" anymore. But I cannot blame people for continuing to use the old term, even if they have heard about the change, because almost everything about language is automatic and spontaneous; scrutinizing political motivations in accidents of linguistic history is needlessly persnickety. I express these opinions more generally and much more extensively in these two videos: Caesar Rant ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IjcX3MVSdyA.html Dialect vs. Language ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zUlNhs8rJ_g.html Ukrainian vs. Russian ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2I-8pXalgGI.html While there are many things we can do to show solidarity with Ukraine, and choosing to change how we spell and pronounce Kyiv may be counted among them, making a donation to relieve the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is probably a better thing to do. Some links if you're interested: support.crs.org/donate/donate-ukraine?ms=agigoo0922ukr00gen00&gclid=CjwKCAiAprGRBhBgEiwANJEY7PxeHtVwx0V_NfrNXRG3XS159bYufTyCDHseajze_lCojeBqkceaUBoCDt8QAvD_BwE www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwi6642Ot8D2AhUKlYYKHZg4CcQYABAAGgJ2dQ&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESWuD2AFGiB31F1E1pkH39KJsnG-NDyTORIMf95yJINgQ9SIFJsNgwpCRPMPFcOz-Sv3-G-iFM4vrxn6NlM5jOBmuQeen5ljab3npoP1mhh6AHHECuX89honWPUA&sig=AOD64_0ulAElyTgLxtX3OuzCIohEo1SZvQ&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwigqIKOt8D2AhVvkYkEHTL3BVEQ0Qx6BAgFEAE&dct=1 www.unicefusa.org/stories/unicef-children-crossfire-ukraine-crisis/39542?form=FUNKBHMZQDQ&Ukraine2&ms=cpc_dig_2021_Ukraine2_20210801_google_Ukraine2_delve_None&initialms=cpc_dig_2020_Ukraine2_20210801_google_Ukraine2_delve_None&gclid=CjwKCAiAprGRBhBgEiwANJEY7L0bVc_wjflpYOChvc-yQ_JLo8IgWb-ptxC8_y9Y8F5aHzvCZc2aUhoCDqYQAvD_BwE EDIT 2022-03-13: A Ukrainian patriot, displeased with the etymology I reported, recently left a comment espousing a different etymology for "Ukraine," and insisted that the word was of uniquely Ukrainian language origin and not from any other Slavic language. Moreover, he objected to the idea that there exists a Russian speaking population in the country, and was apparently unaware that quite a few Ukrainians are bilingual. I wrote him the following response: Слава Україні. As you can tell from my videos, my support for Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, and the Ukrainian language is clear. I am also well aware of the oppression the Ukrainian people and its language have suffered under Russian influence and occupation for centuries. However, as someone who studies and teaches languages, I think it’s vitally important not to allow our understanding of languages to be overpowered by political objectives, even when the political objectives are noble, such as the liberty and independence of Ukraine and the promotion of its culture. The etymological dictionaries I consulted are not from Russian propaganda. The origin of /kraj/ is ultimately from “cutting” in PIE, and hence a cut out piece of land is a territory with a border; this is why both these meanings of “edge” and “region” are present for /kraj/ in virtually every Slavic language. Ancient Greek had a similar word κλῆρος meaning an "estate," from a word for cutting up or partitioning the land. I am perfectly willing to entertain other etymological possibilities, some of which I mentioned in this video. But your definition sounds much more like folk etymology rather than one arrived at scientifically. I could be wrong. But it’s vitally important not to attach so much meaning to etymology. I have a video on this channel where I reveal that the etymology of “family” is from Latin “famulus” meaning a “house slave” ! Thus the word for the thing most dear to mankind, our families, comes from the enslavement and brutalization of innocent captives. It’s a horrible thought. Then, upon reflexion, we find that word origins are indeed interesting, but we realize also that they do not and should not have any effect on how we use them in our modern language. Thus it doesn’t matter if the etymology of “Ukraine” is “in the country” or “on the border,” and could easily have come from another Slavic language rather than Ukrainian itself, just as “France” is a Germanic word, “Scotland” comes from Latin, “Italy” is from Greek, “Spain” is from Phoenician, and “Russia” is from Old Norse. Incidentally, “Italy” probably means a “baby cow,” “Spain” likely means “land of the rodents,” and “Russia” we think comes from “rower,” who in many cultures were the slaves who rowed the boats. Thus, in the end, it doesn’t matter if any of our countries’ names originally meant “glowing dirt pile.” What we, their inhabitants, make of them is their constitution. Because the whole world has seen what Ukrainians are doing, now *Ukraine* for the world means: *Bravery. Freedom. Defiance. Victory.* So don’t let Russian propagandists get in your head, and don’t play their stupid game. Rise above it. You’ve all proven you are better than they. The change of linguistic identity that many Russian-speaking Ukrainians are now choosing - to speak Ukrainian rather than Russian - is a very recent phenomenon. The great President Zelenskyy is a shining example of this: not only is he a native speaker of Russian, but he starred in a comedy with a cast that spoke almost exclusively Russian. Yet Ukrainian is the official language of the land, so he now speaks in Ukrainian in almost every public address. This demonstrates that, until just a few years ago, in order to have broad appeal to Ukrainian viewers, the Servant of the People TV show had to be primarily in Russian. This anecdotal fact, in addition to the surveys and linguistic data taken over the past four decades, shows that a substantial number of Ukrainians speak Russian as a first or second language. But after 2022 this will change. I respect and admire the Ukrainians’ decision to embrace the official language more and more, and I understand their aversion to use Russian even if it is their first tongue. The murderous and unlawful invasion of your beautiful country by the Russians has ensured that Ukrainian language, culture, and independent identity will only grow in popularity and respect both in Ukraine and the whole world. Героям слава.

Man, I love etymology. I never knew about the origin of "sovereign". I guess I can add that to my list of "words that have a silent letter not because it used to be pronounced, but because someone made a false assumption about the word's origins and stuck it in there where it didn't belong", along with "island" and "doubt".

5:20; "Kiou" was actually the old common English name for the city, it comes via Polish "Kijów". "Kiev" started being used more in the 19th century, based on the Russian transliteration, and "Kyiv" even more recently, based on the Ukrainian transliteration.

In polish language: 1) "u" is rather archaic preposition which means "near, nearby, at" For example movie title "Enemy at the gates" is translated as "Wróg u bram" 2) "kraina" means "land" For instance " Alice in Wonderland" is translated as "Alicja w Krainie Czarów" 3) kraina -> land, kraj -> country, skraj -> edge

Ukraine is just chuck full of really interesting and fun word etymologies. The surnames alone are a goldmine for enthusiasts to geek out over, the variety is insane. Heck, my own surname is super rare and has a crazy family legend about it's origin. I think you should really consider doing more slavic-themed videos, since our cultures in non-slavic western societies are still viewed in a very stereotyped and ignorant way, and i have always found your videos to be really insightful and considerate in covering their respective topics, so i feel like you will do a great job. I mean, your Fomenko video is already top-tear in my book :)

Thank you for the video. As a Ukrainian I can add that in the last 20 years "Kyiv" has become the norm whereas "Kiev" is associated with Russia and is being avoided, especially now. As for the word "край" it also means "location" or "territory" not only the edge of something.

If my memory serves me, the word "Україна" in the oldest usages didn't mean borderland, but was just kind of "a region". It became the designation of my land after Russia appropriated our older name - Rus.

Dear Luke! I see how, linguistically, it doesn't matter which spelling of Kyiv/Kiev to use. Nor whether to use the definite article before Ukraine. I also see that you attempt to build bridges between what is often perceived as "conflicting" Ukrainian and Russian speakers/languages/identities within Ukraine, by emphasizing on pluralism. That is a perfect way to do it and the best possible outcome - a world in which Ukrainian and Russian culture can coexist and enrich each other. However, right now and over the past few hundred years, Russian culture has been actively imposed onto Ukraine with brute force and coercion. Empires always try to abolish particularities and differences. Therefore, it is a matter of principle for us Ukrainians to insist that an understanding of Ukrainian subjectivity is established worldwide, especially in Russia. We see in Putin's theses and speeches what perceived similarity between "brotherly peoples" leads to: the right for Russia to impose itself onto Ukraine. And that is unacceptable, which is why we cannot adopt the language of the aggressor even in symbolic meaning. This is not against Russian language, it is pro Ukrainian subjectivity and uniqueness.

I'm not a linguist but I am Ukrainian and I can say for sure that 'Ukraine' does not come from the 'Borderland' word. Let me elaborate. In Ukrainian we have a prefix "U" (У), which may turn to "W" (В) and basically means the "Nearby, close, in, inside or whole". As the author mentioned previously, there is a Slavic word "Kray", which means "the native land or the territory". Ukrainian word "Krayina" (Країна) means "Country", therefore "Ukrayina" (Україна) means "The country inside", "The native land nearby" or "The whole country". On the other hand, there is a russian language, which uses Slavic alphabet, however the meaning of Slavic words is different from the rest of the Slavic languages. The word "Kray" in russian means "Edge or border". There is another russian word "Okraina", which means "borderland". Therefore, when russians hear the unknown word "Ukrayina", they try to find the similar ones in their language. However, the meaning is wrong because there is no such word "Okraina" in Ukrainian. The prefix really "O" means "out or off" and it cannot be changed to "U" or "W" - "in". "Ukrayina" is a Ukrainian word with a different prefix, and has different meaning and ethnology from the russian "Okraina". I hope I was able to make things clear for foreigners interested in the topic.

Mir i svoboda ! Merci beaucoup Luke. I appreciate how you put current political/military problems into your channel, with great sensitivity and tactfully ("avec tact").

Wonderful video! Informative, and I also enjoyed all the Star Trek refs lol; I loved finding out that "sovereign" is cognate with "soprano," and that someone added in the "g" sorta like they did the "s" in "island" or the "p" in "ptarmigan" because they mistakenly assumed something about the etymology haha

Hey polymathy! Great work! Can you make a video about constructed languages? And do you ever heard about Enochian?

Awesome, as usual. One bit I missed was the link between kraj/kroj in many Slavic languages and “to cut”. This link is intuitively understood by most native speakers of e.g. Czech: “krájet” means “to cut”, and “kraj” is “the edge”, ie the thing directly produced by cutting.

word "край" has several meanings: region, part, land, edge. In this context meaning land or region is more corresponding than edge. If simpler: Ukraine means "Homeland" but not an edge

h2ew has a Sanskrit cognate too. Namely “ava” अव which means “down”. Look at the word avatar. “avatāra” अवतार. Avatar means “descending”, “coming down”. In avatar tar has a cognate “trans”.

Really cool video! Love seeing you branch out into other languages! I'm an undergrad student studying Linguistics with a specialization in east slavic languages and this was a lot of fun! Дякую!

In Polish we have a dispute wether to say "in Ukraine" as traditional "na Ukrainie" or "w Ukrainie" which highlights its independence. Ukraine was a part of Poland for quite a while.

Luke: -"What does sovereign mean?" -Dominant? Independent? Luke: - "SIKE, Space battleships! 🚀 " Haha my man. You really do deserve the "polymathy" bit. Another good topic as always.

Always with amazing topics! Thank you Lucius!

There is also a region in Slovenia, that used to be an Austrian province, called Krain. And it was also a borderland. Most of the inhabitants weren't Germans, not even when it belonged to Austria. Another reason why Ukraine sometimes has a definite article in English might be that it has it in German: die Ukraine. In German the article isn't optional, though.

“kraj” also means lovely or home land. I like to think that “ukrajina” means near father land or “at father land”. letter “u”(у) can be used in word “udoma”(удома) which means at home. Russians commonly think that ukraine means borderland, which is rude, offensive due to their cultural appropriation towards ukrainians and ukrainian lands. They think east ukrainian cities were always russian, because of russian speaking people in there, but it is simply not true, before soviet times those lands were very ukrainian speaking, but because of “red” regime, a lot of ukrainians were killed, and their homes were inhabited by russians. True genocide.

Thank you for making this video Luke and the polýMATHY team. Дякую ❤

Props to your editor! This was really well done, and I loved the footage of Ukraine from the air. I'm wishing courage and strength to all Ukrainians right now. One note on "the" Ukraine. English sometimes uses the article to refer to regions that are not sovereign countries, such as the Savoy, the Basque Country, or, within Ukraine itself, the Crimea and the Donbass. I have heard -- but can't confirm -- that some Ukrainian English-speakers take issue with "the Ukraine" because it recalls a recent past where Ukraine was a Russian territory. Still, these are small potatoes, and I wouldn't think ill of someone for saying "the" instead of, uhh, "Ø." :)

Fun fact: the yers were pronounced in Proto-Slavic in all positions They were fully fledged vowels They front yer was an ultra short i And the back yer was an ultra short u We're used to seeing languages like Latin or German with vowels that are longer than normal but we pretty much never hear of languages with vowels which are shorter than normal /krajĭ/

German still commonly uses "die Ukraine"

It would be good to clarify that the name of the country Ukraine comes not from the word, but from the name of the historical and cultural region of Rus' (Kyivan Rus') between Kyiv and Kaniv, which was formed before the 17th century. And the name of the region comes from the Proto-Slavic word which could mean different things. So even if you etymologize like "borderland" it can be right only for small territory of Rus' til 17 ct. after it becomes the name of the region the meaning becomes not clear and not important for people, it starts to mean a Ukrainian Cossacks land, but at the time, not whole country where Ukrainians lived at that time, because country called Rus'/Ruthenia and people where called Ruthenians/Rusyns. From the 9th century. Up to the 20th century land of Ukraine was called Rus' or Ruthenia, which was appropriated in the 17-18 centuries for political reasons by Muscovy (today russian federation), as well as the Holy Roman Empire appropriated the name of the Roman Empire. The name Ukraine in the 19th century originated as the name of the land of Ruthenia/Rus' on the lands of which in the 17th century the Ukrainian Cossack state appeared and the appearance of the name of the state as Ukraine in 1918 was to send us back to the Cossack past, to the freedom gained then.

I LOVE that you use the Zauberflöte overture

That's great editing and sound productiona as always, Luke. You just get better.

Such a lovely country and thank you for making this video at this difficult time

I love the videos on Ukraine. Просто чудово. Мир і свобода 🇺🇦

Thank you very much for this. A wonderful way of showing solidarity! And I really love you for those Star Trek quotes :)

Thank You for this beautiful video as always.

Thank you very much for this video, from Ukraine ❤️

The English name "Kiev" does not come from Russian, but from the mediaeval variant of what is know Ukrainian (and Belarusian): Ruthenian, where it was written that way.

Ah, "Die Zauberflöte"; was thinking about watching it later but that made me stay 'til the end right away

Love the not so low key shade! Starting a video on the etymology of Ukraine, by first starting with the etymology of sovereign.

Also in Croatian we say "Mir i sloboda". Slava Ukrajini! Glory to Ukraine!

"Kray" also means land. в далеком краю - in a faraway land в родном краю - in native land

So in Latin the sound of the letter R does not change when is at the start of the word? I notice you say regnum with something very close to the spanish soft R, but they never use the soft R sounds at the start of a words, they use the hard or "rolling" R instead.

Small correction. In modern slavic languages "kraj" is understood as the end of something. But an older meaning is territory/region/ part of something whole . It is still used in some slavic countries as a term for country.

Itself the word kraj has several meanings. For example the word for regional studies is krajeznavstvo, the Polish Home Army in WWII was called Armija Krajowa. In these instances it is silly to claim that kraj has anything to do with edge or borderland. Ukraine in reality means homeland, that is all. The city of Kyiv/Kiev/Kijow is named after a legendary prince Kiy and has been a center of Ukrainian nation since the 4th century when the territory was part of Hunnic empire.

Star trek, a world without income inequality, that is, no rich. I long for such a future.

Fascinating stuff. So is the modern word for edge, край, in any way related to the English word crag? In Greek, the word is άκρη so, at a first guess, I'd say they're related?

Hi! This is just my theory, a semi-native Ukrainian speaker, but growing up in the US. "Krayaty" (кpаяти) means to cut. A farmer with land in Ukraine would divide (cut up) his land among his sons, so this piece of the original holding would be a son's "cut". From the son's point of view, "мій край". Why would a person native to this land call it "the borderlands"? People think of their land as center to their lives and a far away land as a borderland on the corner with some other different country. Just a thought.

I do wonder why so many people literally ignore the existence of the word 'Vkrajina' which means motherland. And as you know in Ukrainian v and u are interchangeable, so u have 'Ukrajina/Vkrajina' (transliterated from Cyrillic). Also 'kraj' have two meanings - not only 'border', 'edge' but also it means 'land'. Only taking some info and ignoring everything else can leave wrong impression.

Here's an idea for your next videos. Explain how and why the Russian regularly becomes in Ukrainian words / city names. Lvov → Lviv, Rovno → Rivno Kharkov → Kharkiv Sol' → sil' (salt) Kot → kit (cat)

Thanks again for an amazing video! It's very informative, and also I like learning about the etymology of names in general. I was wandering why souverain in French doesn't have a g but English does also 😅

Because of you I fell in love with Latin and Greek.

Finally, another etymology video, and there couldn't be a worthier subject! I missed these.

Ukraine means “land/country within the limits/borders”. There are other meanings of "У" preposition in Ukrainian (in fact those other meanings are the most used meanings). There are cases when preposition "У"(U) is often written/pronounced also as "В"(W) depending on the ending of previous word in the sentence - in those cases it means "in", "inside" "within the limits/borders". We have an evidence (as minimum from XIX century) that the word "Ukraine" was used in both forms "Україна" (Ukraina) and "Вкраїна"(Wkraina) so this is indeed such case with the meaning "in the country", "inside the country" "within the limits of the country" and NOT the meaning of borderland or edge. Preposition "У" is very rarely used in the meaning "near" in Ukrainian (unlike it is in Russian). The borderland theory is the Russian myth created in order to mock Ukraine as the "borderland of Russian World" while in fact it was the very center of Rus'/Ruthenia (cultural, political, religious center). Later Poles also start to use this myth in a form of “borderland of Poland”. There is more evidence: Peresopnytsia Gospel - the 16th century first known example of a vernacular Old Ukrainian translation of the canonical text of the Scriptures written in local (Old-Ukrainian) dialect of Ruthenian. That gospel contains the word "Ukraine (Оукраина)" with the meaning not related to Ukraine at all, but as the common word with the meaning of the "land within the limits/borders", "country", "region" - this can be easily seen if we compare the same text in Ruthenian, Old Church Slavonic and Latin: Below it means "in finibus" - "in the area", "within the borders": И жилъ в капєрнаоумѣ за морємъ на оукраинах заоулонскыхъ и нєѳалимскыхъ... Всєлися въ капєрнаумъ въ поморїє, въ прєдѣлѣхъ завулонихъ и нєфѳалімлихъ... Et habitavit in Capharnaum maritima, in finibus Zabulon et Nephthalim... Below it means "in fines" - "in the territories", "within the bounds of": Вышоль з галилєи и пришоль въ оукраины иоудєйскыя по оноуи сторонѣ їордана... Прєйдє от галїлєи и прїидє въ прєдѣлы іудєйскїя об онъ полъ іордана... Мigravit a Galileaa, et venit in fines Judaeae trans Jordanem... Below it means "regionem" / "regio" - "region", "country" and "страна" has clear meaning of the "country" in Old Church Slavonic: И вышла о нємь повѣсть по всєи оукраинѣ... И вѣсть изыдє по всєй странѣ о нємъ... Et fama exiit per universam regionem de illo... И прихожєвали к нємоу зо всєи оукраины їоудєйскои и иєр(с)лимьлянє... И исходашє къ нєму вся іудєйская страна и ієр(с)лиманє... Et egrediebatur ad eum omnis Iudaeae regio, et Jerosolymitae universi... "u" in the meaning "near" or "by" is common in Russian but almost absent in Ukrainian. So meaning "u"+"kraj" (near/by the edge) works only for Russian language. Ukrainian language is based directly on Ruthenian language spoken on the lands that are now called Ukraine. The term "Ukraina" is very old - from the Rus' time. So it is anyway incorrect to try to derive the etymology based on modern Russian meanings of prepositions.

Thank you for this video!

I can imagine that great river running down the middle being the natural boundary of some ancient territory I've taken to saying kee'eev/ kyeev just to mix it up

Did you know that the word War can be related to the word "cook" in some Slavic languages? Boiling - var , boiling point - bod varu, cooking - variť, it's all about fire, just like war, everything burns in it.

1:48 "край" have one more meaning, its a certain territory, not just edge of territory. On ukrainian you can say "рідний край", what means homeland, from this, "У" - in, "край(їна)" - homeland. Name of country "Україна" comes from this meaning. Because even in the annals the word "Ukraine" was used in the sense of a certain territory and not a part of something bigger

Great video! Although, as a native lithuanian speaker, I have never heard of a prefix "au-" in lithuanian. Perhaps it is no longer used?

As someone who lived in Ukraine, I just want to say this - You´re right, they don´t have the word ¨the¨ in their language, but they DO mind if you say ¨The Ukraine.¨ Because that is reminiscent of the time of the USSR. ¨The Ukraine,¨ referred to the territory of Ukraine which was part of the USSR, but now - they are their own country and they don´t belong to anyone else, so it is only ¨Ukraine.¨ No ¨the.¨

In icelandic we call the capitol of Ukraine "Kænugarður" which I think is from old russian (Kijangorod?, maybe). Kæna also means a type of small boat in icelandic but I doubt that's related directly. The word Kæna may be related though to Ukraine (because of the shape of the "kæna" boat) and the "Krajína" word through the sense of "edge" i dont know just spitballin'. Great video! ;)

How do the Russians or Ukrainians refer to the Kievan Rus?

So instructional! Tysm!

I am reasonable sure that "Ukraina" was originally used by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to refer to the area closer to the Crimean Khanate.

Russians love the 'borderland' interpretation. In Russian sources, this interpretation is actively pushed because it implies that Ukraine is borderland of a greater entity. But Край does not only mean edge. It also means 'land' or 'homeland'. In Poland there was Armia Krajova, in Russia there are several entities having Krai in their name. In literature and folklore there is phase often used 'ridnyi krai' which definitely does not mean the edge but rather fatherland. Historically, 'borderland' interpretation is also not really relevant. The term was first used in written sources in the XII century, before Mongol invasion. At the time Kyiv remained the culture and political centre of by that time weaker and fragmented Rus. So, why on earth would people call densely populated territory around the heart of the state a 'borderland'? We'll never know the truth and it's all theory. But the historical context should be understood. People don't call something an EDGE OR BORDERLAND if neither of those.

you could write the final expression "peace and freedom" on screen, so we can also read while we read it, in both ukrainian and russian.

"Ó Briain" does not contain the preposition "ó", but the noun "ó", which means "grandson, descendant". That noun is supposed to descend from h₂éwh₂os in PIE and is cognate with "avus" in Latin. I suppose it could be argued that the first part of h₂éwh₂os might contain the preposition, but it is difficult to be sure.

We could just take it easy, and refer to Kyiv/Kiev as Chiovia, the Latin way. 😁

As you may or may not know: "Krai" is also where Russian gets the word Край. Which is what some of their provinces are called. Ex: Алтайский Край, Красноярский Край (Altayskiy Kpay, Krasnoyarskiy Krai, resp.). Although others are referred to as Области (Oblasti). And some are even referred to as republics (ex: Dagestan, Tatarstan).

This was a beautiful, kind thing to do. I think it probably says a lot about you as a person.

The Slavic term krajina (border, borderland) is also the origin of the modern German word "Grenze" (an old term was "Mark" which is related to march in English)

Ukraine doesn’t mean borderland in no way. And there are couple of reasons: 1. In “Ipatievskaya Letopis” word «Оукраина» was used to inner regions of Rus such as Galichina. 2. Krajina in Ukrainian means “a country”, an inner territory. 2.1 Ukrainian translations of Bible in 16th century translate greek word ὅριον (a region and its borders. A piece of territory) as «Оукраина». 3. « Оукраина» has to be read as Ukraina not as Oukraina. Оу in slavonic and old russian is always read as “u”. In east slavic languages you can’t mix “u, v” and “o, ob”. The meanings are antonymous since “u, v” always mean “inside” and “o, ob” is “outside”. Mixing them is like mixing yes and no in the same word. So, У + краина might only mean “in territory”. Plus in Ukrainian language, unlike Russian у and в (u, v) are synonymous and interchangeable. 4. Ukrainian songs and poetry of 16-19th century also sometimes call Ukraine as Вкраїна, literally In+territory. 5. Regardless of what the word meant before (edit: in proto-slavic), in Ukrainian language “Ukraine” always meant “inner territory, a piece of territory”. A borderland and analogue of modern Russian “okraina” in Ukrainian is okolytsya.

Край - literally means: country, region, land, locality Вкраїна - В Країні - У країні - Україна which literally means inside the country. As the Romans said in the City, which meant in Rome.

As an etymology nerd I loved this!

'Kraj' means in Slovene language settlement or place. 'Okraj' means district. 'Okrajina' then would means many districts. Maybe Ukraine means just land compose of many districts.

In Ukrainian there is a proverb “у” which sometimes reads as “w” («в») and can be changed to “в” before vowels (as “y” before constants). Both mean “in”. «Країна» as well as «край» means “land” or “motherland”, “country”. This meaning exists in Russian too, although “край” as “edge” is more common meaning. Thus, “Україна” would mean “in [my] country”, or “ in motherland”. Russia, especially, nowadays doing war, loves saying that “Україна” means “at the edge” (of Russia, ofc). Which is, obviously, wrong. Not only in linguistics, but historically, too. Kyiv Rus (with the capital in Kyiv) was there long before Moscovia, so this rather Moscow is “at the edge”.

🕊️Мир 🌍Мир 🐾и свобода🌿 Thank you for this sympathetic video - with the splendid pictures of Ukrainian landscapes... 😁сердечно поздравляю🍀🌻pozdrawiam wszystkich bardzo serdecznie 💗🌿🌞

"Kraj" means "a land defined by a certain border". It comes from a logical assertion that when you take a certain border, there is always some piece of land, that it defines. So the land/border debate doesn't make sense because it has similar meaning in slavic languages. The word "Ukraine" appeared at 13-14 centuries after fall of Rus', and, as a ukrainian, I think that homeland/borderland variance between different people was present from the very beginning of this word's existence and it weren't a problem for anyone at that time. For ukrainians this word has always meant "homeland", but for russians it is crucial to recognize ukrainians as "some people on the border of a great Russia", so they would have the true rights for Rus' heritage. However, I think that Moscow has same rights for Rus' name as Constantinople had for Roman Empire. Ukraine was a word to describe a land where one certain nation lived but that was divided between different states and steppe frontier. I think, between 13 and 20 centuries this word had same position as "Kurdistan" nowadays.

Jak sie masz, Lukasz! Does Kiev come from “Kijew” as well? It was part of Poland-Lithuania for 400 years so I thought it was Anglicized from that. Also since Russian uses “y” (u or oo) to show possession, could it mean “our country?” ( oo+kraine) . Great video sir!

In Russian there is a rough equivalent of the English usage "Ukraine x THE Ukraine". It's more polite to say "в Украине" (in Ukraine), but the traditional usage, to which Russian nationalists cling to, is "на Украина" (on Ukraine), that carries the connotation that Ukraine wouldn't be a independent land but just a part of Russia. Слава Україні! Вітаю всіх українців із Бразилії!

Thanks for the great video from Ukraine! I have a little trick for English-speakers how to make pronunciation of "Kyiv" more closer to Ukrainian standard. Just say sound "a", like in the world "cat". Actually, if you gonna to say word "cave" and will make the sound "ı" in it just a bit longer, it will work, I promise you. In Ukrainian the letter "и" is spelled like something middle between English "a" and "ı".

the O' of Irish surnames isn't the same as the preposition ó, the part of the surname originally meant "grandson, descendant" and is from Proto-Celtic *awyos from Proto-Indo-European *h2ewh2yos, so related to Latin avus. Given the second laryngeal in the PIE, this cannot be a nominalisation of the preposition *h2ew, but must be a genuinely separate word

It's mentioned below by others, but "border" and "country/region" have a long history of transference in Indo-European languages. Celtic, Germanic, Slavic all use words that either mean both border and country or once did and have become specialized later. Often it will mean border generally but country in compounds or toponyms (or region where there is no political meaning). Mercia, Denmark, Cambria/Cumbria, Breton bro, Marcomanni, Armenian marz (from Iranian), all "country/region" (the diminutive Gallic form results in brolo, brool, breuil garden/copse)

Always understand and described for myself sacral meaning behind name of our motherland as dedicated land, cutted off from rest world piece. As "Krajity" is mean "to cut", in this case we can say "Okrajena zemlia", cutted land, or as you can hear in the old Rus language historical toponimic term -"Oukraina" "Ѹкраина"(which in many sources synonymic to state) also "Vkrajina" , brings understanding as "Vkrajena zemlia", which means - cutted from all sides land, dedicated land, dedicated piece, in other words - state, territorial unit. Never accepted the latest muscovy-soviet historians explanations of Ukraine as okraina "окраина" or as edge, border, outskirts of something, in other words περιφέρεια...

I’m of Russian descent, and based on my grandmother’s pronunciation I’ve always said Kyiv as “Key-if”

Great video! More etymology please

Care, svaka čast na videima i neizostavnoj profesionalnosti u svemu što radiš. Salve Luka Humans everywhere have so much in common, i wish more people take time to realize that. So much information is lost in this information age, ironically. History and science should be our teachers and critical thinking the mould in which we shape our worldviews and understanding of each other and our surroundings. Also, Qapla'.

I'm foreign to Ukranian and Russian culture and this was an interesting watch

All Ukrainians are welcome in Romania! Peace and prosperity to our neighbours! 🇺🇦

I ❤ when Star Trek finds it's way into historical videos.

Do you not think the vowel sequence in seeing is the closest approximate to Kyiv?

I like how you support Ukrainian in a linguistic way.

Neat

The Gambia. Honestly, Ukraine still sounds weird to me as opposed to the Ukraine. It’ll always be Kiev and Odessa to me.

Do we know how Ukraine got its name in western culture? I mean, to put aside the disscussion about the true meaning and etymology of it, how and when was it established in languages like English and French? Was from Polish "Ukraina", or directly from "Україна"?

There used to be another state called Krajina - "Republic of Serbian Krajina" which existed during '90 in Balkan, but all of its inhabitants were either brutally killed or expelled during the war, and their state cease to exist.

So Ukraine was a "march" like Brandenburg

Interesting and informative!

In german we also have to different ways of pronunciation. Its either „Ukra-ine“ or „Ukreine“ (written standard german is Ukraine). So basically either the A and I are separated or melted together in a diphthong.

Slava Ukraini - love your work mate!

To be fair: край means border, країна means land as in farmland. It's more like that Ukraine Україна (actually У/В країні) means people from or in the farmland. Edit: the distinction between that is really new in contrary to people who mostly don't live in cities or towns.

Thank you for the video. Check the Russian pronunciation of Киев, it’s more like “ki-yev” 2 syllables spoken quickly.

You could have included some mention of Austria. I think the etymology may have some common origins. Also the traditional English name for Vienna is quite dissimilar to the Austrian pronunciation.

It's funny how "Kyiv" (and the newer pronunciation) became more fashionable to use in English-speaking media following the rise of Russian aggression, even though it's actually way closer to the Russian pronunciation than it is to either the Ukrainian one or the older English one.