Endonyms

The endonym for the Belarusian language (in standard Belarusian) is беларуская мова. Varieties occurring in Poland in the Podlasie region are referred to as prosty jazyk, prosta mova.

Exonyms

While the Polish name currently used is język białoruski, Jan Czeczot referred to it as mowa sławiano-krewicka or dialekt krewicki (Krivian dialect) (Czeczot 1846: VCzeczot 1846 / komentarz/comment/r /
Czeczot, Jan 1846. Piosnki wieśniacze znad Niemna i Dźwiny, niektóre przysłowia i idiotyzmy w mowie Sławiano-Krewieckiej, s postrzeżeniami nad nią uczynionymi. Wilno: Józef Zawadzki.

). Similarly to Belarusian dialects themselves, Polish refers to them as język prosty, mówienie po prostu (lit. “simple language”, “plain speaking”) (although a similar term may be used also to describe other East Slavic varieties of the Polish-Belarusian borderland – cf. Sajewicz 1992Sajewicz 1992 / komentarz/comment/r /
Sajewicz, Michał 1992. „Nasza mowa prosta, czyli o białorusko-ukraińskiej granicy językowej”, Nad Buhom i Narwoju 3.
, Zielińska 2007Zielińska 2007 / komentarz/comment/r /
Zielińska, Anna 2007. „Język a tożsamość na pograniczu białorusko-polskim (na przykładzie badań na Grodzieńszczyźnie)”, w: Antoni Mironowicz & Marcin Ulanowski (red.) Kościoły i związki wyznaniowe, a świadomość narodowa mieszkańców pogranicza. Białystok: Wyższa Szkoła Administracji Publicznej im. Stanisława Staszica, s. 91-101.
).
In English, several variants of the name for the Belarusian language can be found. The Ethnologue gives Belarusan as the principal name, but mentions Belarusian, Belorussian, Bielorussian, Byelorussian, White Russian and White Ruthenian as well.
In Russian, one of the official languages of the Republic of Belarus, the Belarusian language is called белорусский язык or беларуский язык.

History and geopolitics

The name White Russia is first attested in an anonymous treaty Descriptione Terrarum from the 13th cent. (Michaluk 2010: 29Michaluk 2010 / komentarz/comment/r /
Michaluk, Dorota 2010. Białoruska Republika Ludowa 1918–1920. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK.
). In the Slavic language, Белая Русь appeared in the Hypatian Codex (a Medieval manuscript consisting of three Ruthenian chronicles) in 1315. Initially the name referred to the territory of today’s East Belarus, while the western part was called Black Russia (Fałowski 2011: 146Fałowski 2011 / komentarz/comment/r /
Fałowski, Adam 2011. „Język białoruski”, w: Barbara Oczkowa & Elżbieta Szczepańska (red.) Słowiańskie języki literackie. Rys historyczny. Kraków: UJ, s. 145-160.
). It was not until the 16th cent. that the current usage was established; previous to that, the name was used in various contexts, even to describe all the Ruthenian lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, including Kiev (Michaluk 2010: 29Michaluk 2010 / komentarz/comment/r /
Michaluk, Dorota 2010. Białoruska Republika Ludowa 1918–1920. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UMK.
).
Together with the Belarusian lands, the Podlaskie Voivodeship had belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, until it became part of the Crown (of the Kingdom of Poland), according to the provisions of the Union of Lublin 1569 (an act proclaiming the creation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) (Pazdniakou 2007: 384-385Pazdniakou 2007 / komentarz/comment/r /
Пазднякоў, Валерый [Pazdniakou] 2007. „Падляшскае ваяводства”, w: Г. П. Пашкоў et al. (red.) Вялікае Княства Літоўскае. Энцыклапедыя. Тom 2. Мінск: Беларуская энцыклапедыя имя Петруся Броўкі, s. 384-385.
).
After the partitions of Poland, the region of Belarusian dialects fell under the authority of Prussia. In 1807 it became part of the Russian Empire, where Russian was the official language. Belarusian was spoken among peasantry, lower gentry and lower bourgeoisie. Initially, the Belarusian language was confined to works of folklore but took a literary form in the 19th century, albeit limited to fiction only. It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the language found new uses. 1905 marked the beginning of a liberalisation, in the result of which the language gained new uses (e.g. in newspapers) (Fałowski 2011:149-150Fałowski 2011 / komentarz/comment/r /
Fałowski, Adam 2011. „Język białoruski”, w: Barbara Oczkowa & Elżbieta Szczepańska (red.) Słowiańskie języki literackie. Rys historyczny. Kraków: UJ, s. 145-160.
).

Location on the territory of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Until the second partition, the majority of territories on which Belarusian was spoken belonged to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (mostly the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) .
According to various estimates, between 1.8 and 2.2 million Belarusians lived within the Commonwealth borders (Mironowicz 2010: 9Mironowicz 2010 / komentarz/comment/r /
Mironowicz, Eugeniusz 2010. „Białorusini w Polsce (1919-2009)”, w: Teresa Zaniewska (red.) Białorusini. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, s. 9-28.
).


The red (dziekanie) and green (ciekanie) borders mark the southern range of the Belarusian dialects, according to M. Sajewicz (1997Sajewicz 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Sajewicz, Michał 1997. „O białorusko-ukraińskiej granicy językowej na Białostocczyźnie.”, w: Feliks Czyżewski & Michał Łesiów (red.) Ze studiów nad gwarami wschodniosłowiańskimi w Polsce. Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS, s. 91-107.
).

Other locations

According to The Ethnologue, apart from Poland and Belarus, the Belarusian language is currently used also in the territories of the former Soviet Union, as well as in North America (Canada and the United States) (Lewis 2009Lewis 2009 / komentarz/comment/r /
Lewis, M. Paul (red.) 2009. The Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas: SIL International. [http://www.ethnologue.com/].
). Centres of indigenous Belarusian population can be found in the border regions of Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine.