Name

A contemporary autoglottonym for the Ukrainian language is украiнська мова. In English we speak of Ukrainian, in Polish it is język ukraiński and in Russian, one of the most commonly used languages in Ukraine, the name is украинский язык.

Name origin

The earliest terminology referring to Ukrainian, and generally speaking East Slavic cultural regions, is associated with the ethnonym ‘Rus’ (Slavic Рѹсь). In this context, an East Slavic language spoken in that region was called Ruthenian (руський язик).
Since the fourteenth century, the Patriarchate of Constantinople used two terms: Μικρὰ Ῥωσσία (from Greek – the language of the Patriarchate of Constantinople – Little Rus), which was the territory of the Metropolis of Halych, and Μεγάλη Ῥωσσία (Greek Greater Rus), the territory of the Metropolis of Kiev. Later on, the whole of Ukraine was called Little Rus and its language – Little Russian (малоросійська мова, малоруська мова, малоруський язик).
Most probably, the name Ukraine has its origins in the pre-Indo-European root *krei ‘cut’, similarly to other Slavic words associated with cutting or edge. The earliest mention of Ukraine in writing was recorded in the text of the Tale of Bygone Years (Old Russian Chronicle, Повесть временных лет – Povest' vremennykh let), in the version included in the Hypatian Codex. Under the year 1187, the chronicler made an entry on the death of Prince Volodymyr of Pereyaslav and said that „the Ukraina groaned for him”. The word is mentioned in the Tale of Bygone Years several times, always meaning simply the borderlands – not being a proper name of any specific region. It appeared as such in the sixteenth-century Polish sources and was used initially to mean the territory of the Kiev Voivodeship and later on, also the voivodeships of Bratslav and Chernihiv. Since the seventeenth century, the term Ukraine was used by the Cossacks to refer to their motherland. However, it was used rather in a poetic sense, as a borderland. At the same time the term appeared in the West. Modern meaning of the word Ukraine, meaning the territory inhabited by the Ukrainians, is dated back to the nineteenth century, when nationalist movements grew stronger. Its territory, however, remained undefined, as official separation of Ukraine under the Austrian and Russian authorities was impossible. As late as in 1917 the Ukrainian People’s Republic, Hetmanate (Ukrainian State) and the Bolsheviks, who created the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic started to use the term Ukraine to mean very specific geopolitical entities (Magocsi 2010: 189-190Magocsi 2010 / komentarz/comment/r /
Magocsi, Paul Robert 2010. A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
). From that time on, the term was commonly accepted as the name of a (more or less sovereign) country (Fałowski 2011: 127-128Fałowski 2011 / komentarz/comment/r /
Fałowski, Adam 2011. „Język ukraiński”, w: Barbara Oczkowa & Elżbieta Szczepańska (red.) Słowiańskie języki literackie. Rys historyczny. Kraków: UJ, s. 127-144.
).

Names of the varieties spoken in Poland

The name надсянській говір (Upper Sannian dialect) was probably coined by Iwan Ziłyński in 1933. It was accepted in the scholarly community even before the Second World War (Łesiw 1997: 151Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
). Among other noun phrases to name it, Michał Łesiów mentions Надсяння, Посяння and Надсянщина (Łesiw 1997: 153Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
). There is also the term долівський говір derived from долиняни (Dolinians), which was used by the Lemkos to name the inhabitants of the territory around the city of Przemyśl (ukr. Перемишль) and Jarosław (Ярослав).
Dniestrian dialects were also known as Opillian dialects. The name has its origin in Opillia (ukr. Опілля) – a region in western Ukraine, a part of the Podillia Upland (ukr. Подільська височина). There is also a noun phrase Наддністрянщина.
Władysław Kuraszkiewicz devided Volynian and Chełm dialects into Southern Ruthenian dialects bordering on the line from Hrubieszów (ukr. Грубешів) to Zamość (Замостя) in the north and Northern Ruthenian dialects, transitional to Southern Ruthenian, bordering on the line from Włodawa (ukr. Володава) to Łęczna (ukr. Ленчна). Some authors call them simply Volynian dialects (волинські говірки) or Chełm dialects (холмські говірки, Холмщина). Because the territory was once Lublin Governorate, they were also called the Lublin dialects (люблинські говірки) (Łesiw 1997: 239-242, 252Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
).
Various dialects from the East Slavic language continuum are sometimes called the Khakhlak language (rus. хохлатский язык) (e.g. Łesiw 1997: 249Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
). The term refers also to the Podlachian dialects. They are dealt with separately on this website, although they are sometimes classified as varieties of Ukrainian. What is more, the term Khokhol and Khakhlak are pejorative names for the Ukrainians and the Ukrainian language in the post-Soviet territory.

History and geopolitics

Location in the Republic of Poland

Until the Treaty of Pereyaslav (1654), the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth included most of the regions where Ukrainian varieties were spoken.
Prior to the Second World War, Ukrainian dialects were spoken on a substantial part of south-eastern Poland (see the map).


Location of the Ukrainian minority in the interwar period (from: Jähnig 2008Jähnig 2008 / komentarz/comment/r /
Jähnig, Georg 2008. „Medien der Minderheiten – Ukrainer in Polen, Polen in Litauen”, w: Stefan Daute & Adrian Fiedler (red.) Slavische nationale Minderheiten im Ostseeraum. Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam, s. 77-81.
).

The term Sannian dialects refers to Ukrainian language varities spoken on the territory by the river San stretching from the river Strwiąż in the south to the river Tanew in the north. The biggest part of this region is in the today’s Podkarpackie Voivodeship, although it reaches also Liv Oblast in Ukraine. In the Second Polish Republic it was the terrain of przemyski and jarosławski districts (powiats), western parts of mościski, jaworowski and lubaczowski districts, and southern part of biłgorajski district. The Sannian dialects speakers used to live in the areas surrounding the following cities: Przemyśl (ukr. Перемишль), Sanok (Сянік), Jarosław (Ярослав), Berezow (today’s Березів in Ukraine), Radymno (Радuмно), Tarnogród (Терногород), Przeworsk (Переворськ), Leżajsk (Лєжайск) and Lubaczów (Любачів) (Łesiw 1997: 151Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
).
Dniestrian dialects region is located on the borderland of Podkarpackie (Horyniec municipality – ukr. Горинець, Cieszanów – Чешанів and Narol – Наріль) and Lubelskie Voivodeships (Lubycza Królewska municipality – ukr. Любича-Королівська, Jarczów – Ярчів/Конвиця and Ulhówek – Вільгівок).
Western Volynian dialects have been spoken in Poland on the territory of three districts of the Lubelskie Voivodeship: hrubieszowski, tomaszowski and zamojski.
Further north there are transitional dialects in the direction of the Northern Ukrainian dialects (Polesia). This kind of language varieties are present in chełmski district.
Due to forced settlements, Ukrainian dialects speakers also lived in northern and western Poland. They established considerable settlements in Lower Silesia, Pomerania, Warmia and Masuria and in larger cities such as Warsaw and Cracow (Wicherkiewicz 2000: 188Wicherkiewicz 2000 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wicherkiewicz, Tomasz 2000. „Tożsamość mniejszości językowych w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej”, w: T. Kostyrko, T. Zgółka (red.) Kultura wobec kręgów tożsamości. Materiały konferencji przedkongresowej Poznań 19-21 października 2000. Poznań-Wrocław.
).
Ukrainian dialects were spoken not only by the Ukrainians from the eastern post-war Poland, but also by the resettled citizens of the Soviet Union, who were later recognised as Polish. This group included Ukrainians as well (Słabig 2009: 180Słabig 2009 / komentarz/comment/r /
Słabig, Arkadiusz 2009. „Inwigilacja ludności ukraińskiej na Pomorzu Zachodnim w latach 1947-1989 na podstawie dokumentów organów bezpieczeństwa”, w: Jarosław Syrnyk (red.) Aparat bezpieczeństwa Polski Ludowej wobec mniejszości narodowych i etnicznych oraz cudzoziemców. Warszawa: IPN, s. 180-202.

). What is more, according to data from 1952, Ukrainian emigrants from Argentina and Brazil settled also in Szczecin (Słabig 2009: 180Słabig 2009 / komentarz/comment/r /
Słabig, Arkadiusz 2009. „Inwigilacja ludności ukraińskiej na Pomorzu Zachodnim w latach 1947-1989 na podstawie dokumentów organów bezpieczeństwa”, w: Jarosław Syrnyk (red.) Aparat bezpieczeństwa Polski Ludowej wobec mniejszości narodowych i etnicznych oraz cudzoziemców. Warszawa: IPN, s. 180-202.

). Volynian dialect in Western Pomerania has been studied for example by Danuta Jarczak (1972Jarczak 1972 / komentarz/comment/r /
Jarczak, Danuta 1972. „Niektóre osobliwości przemieszczonej gwary ukraińskiej w powiecie stargardzkim województwa szczecińskiego”, Zeszyty Naukowe 6: 41-54. Szczecin: Uniwersytet Poznański im. Adama Mickiewicza. Wyższa Szkoła Nauczycielska w Szczecinie.
).
Ukrainian language varieties speakers are also present in Lubuskie Voivodeship, although this area is still under-researched (Zielińska 2012: 13Zielińska 2012 / komentarz/comment/r /
Zielińska, Anna et al. 2012. „Wielojęzyczność w województwie lubuskim. Stan współczesny”, w: Beata A. Orłowska i Krzysztof Wasilewski (red.) Mniejszości regionu pogranicza polsko-niemieckiego. Gorzów Wielkopolski: Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Zawodowa, s. 13-23.

).


Ukrainian minority resettled to Western Pomerania during Operation “Vistula” (from: Karwowska 2011: 210Karwowska 2011 / komentarz/comment/r /
Karwowska, Iwona 2011. „Mniejszość ukraińska w województwie zachodniopomorskim w świetle wystawy Ukraińcy na Pomorzu Zachodnim 1947-2007 w Muzeum Narodowym w Szczecinie”, w: Artur Kijas (red.) Ukraińcy – historia i kultura. Szreniawa: Muzeum Narodowe Rolnictwa i Przemysłu Rolno-Spożywczego, s. 208-218.
).


National minorities in Poland in 1990-1998 (from: Matelski 1999: 274Matelski 1999 / komentarz/comment/r /
Matelski, Dariusz 1999. Niemcy w Polsce w XX wieku. Warszawa-Poznań: PWN.
).

Some of the varieties which are often classified as Ukrainian are dealt with separately in this website („Lemko Rusyn”, „Podlachian and West Polesian”).


Ukrainian language varieties on the borderland (based on: Kuraszkiewicz 1963Kuraszkiewicz 1963 / komentarz/comment/r /
Kuraszkiewicz, Władysław 1963. Zarys dialektologii wschodniosłowiańskiej. Warszawa: PWN.
).

Other locations

The Ukrainian language is spoken also in Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Canada, the USA, countries of South America and Australia (Fałowski 2011: 127Fałowski 2011 / komentarz/comment/r /
Fałowski, Adam 2011. „Język ukraiński”, w: Barbara Oczkowa & Elżbieta Szczepańska (red.) Słowiańskie języki literackie. Rys historyczny. Kraków: UJ, s. 127-144.
).
Some Ukrainian dialects speakers from Poland were recognised as the Ukrainians and resettled to the Ukrainian SSR after the Second World War. Although they were directed to eastern oblasts of the Republic, after some time, they moved closer to the border with Poland. The dialect of the Hajowe village (ukr. Гайове, Volhynia, Ukraine, former Polish Przebraże colony) shares the features of dialects from chełmski and jarosławski districts (Lisna 2001: 91Lisna 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лісна, Людмила [Lisna] 2001. „Холмські и перемиські діалектизми у мовленииі переселенців”, w:  Feliks Czyżewski & Hryhorij Arkuszyn (red.) Ukraińskie i polskie gwary pogranicza. Lublin-Łuck: Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze, s. 91-94.


). The Sannian variety was also recorded in the city of Borysław (Борислав) in Liviv Oblast (Łesiw 1997: 194Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
). The resettled citiens are called in Volhynia Zabużanie (збужани) or Chołmszczaki (Холмщаки) (Karaszczuk 2001: 105Karaszczuk 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Каращук, Ганна [Karaszczuk] 2001. „Волинь и польщизна”, w:  Feliks Czyżewski & Hryhorij Arkuszyn (red.) Ukraińskie i polskie gwary pogranicza. Lublin-Łuck: Polskie Towarzystwo Ludoznawcze, s. 103-109.
).

History

An important region in the Middle Ages where Ukrainian language varieties were traditionally settled was Red Ruthenia. In 981 Vladimir the Great took over the lands south to the Włodawka river as a part of the Czerwień Towns and incorporated them to Kievan Rus. They changed their political status several times, to become a part of (Ruthenian) Duchy of Belz and Chełm in the thirteenth century (Czyżewski i Warchoł 1998: VICzyżewski i Warchoł 1998 / komentarz/comment/r /
Czyżewski, Feliks & Stefan Warchoł 1998. Polskie i ukraińskie teksty gwarowe ze wschodniej Lubelszczyzny. Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS.

). A King of Ruthenia, Daniel of Galicia, (ukr. Даніло Галицький, 1201-1264) made the city of Chełm (ukr. Холм) its capital.
The Polish-Ukrainian border between the rivers Bug and Vistula stabilised in the fourteenth century (Czyżewski i Warchoł 1998: VIICzyżewski i Warchoł 1998 / komentarz/comment/r /
Czyżewski, Feliks & Stefan Warchoł 1998. Polskie i ukraińskie teksty gwarowe ze wschodniej Lubelszczyzny. Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS.

), when in 1387 Chełm Land was incorporated into Poland. Ukraine became an integral part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland after the Union of Lublin (1569) – the act which created the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The Unions of Lublin (1569) and Brześć (1596) started the Polonisation of the upper classes. Catholic intelectual elites educated in Greek Catholic (Unite) schools used Polish, alongside Ukrainian, language (Czyżewski i Warchoł 1998: XICzyżewski i Warchoł 1998 / komentarz/comment/r /
Czyżewski, Feliks & Stefan Warchoł 1998. Polskie i ukraińskie teksty gwarowe ze wschodniej Lubelszczyzny. Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS.

).
The territory of Ukraine on the east under the Polish control decreased after the treaty of Pereyaslav (1654). It was then that the Cossack military leaders sought the Russian protection. In the time of partitions of Poland, the remaining Ukrainian speaking terrain belonged to Austria (later Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria within the Habsburg Monarchy) and Russia.
The Greek Catholic Church in the Austrian Partition was not suppressed, however, the process of Polonisation was still taking place. The Greek Catholics could often speak both Polish and Ukrainian. Families of mixed marriages cultivated Polish as well as Ukrainian languages and traditions (Czyżewski i Warchoł 1998: XVIIICzyżewski i Warchoł 1998 / komentarz/comment/r /
Czyżewski, Feliks & Stefan Warchoł 1998. Polskie i ukraińskie teksty gwarowe ze wschodniej Lubelszczyzny. Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS.

).
In 1918 by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Chełm Land (ukr. Холмщина) was to be incorporated into Ukraine, but eventually, it remained in Poland by the Peace of Riga (Łesiw 1997: 244Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
).
In the interwar period, the Ukrainians were initially granted some privileges, which were later taken away from them, e.g. Ukrainian schools and churches were closed down (Łesiw 1997: 244-245Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
).
After the Second World War, a part of the Ukrainian speaking community was located to the west of the Polish and Ukrainian border, Ukraine being a part of the Soviet Union at that time. After the initial resetlements to the east (in the years 1945-1946, 483 000 Ukrainians were resettled), the Operation Vistula was carried out in 1947. Its aim was forced deportation of the Ukrainian community to other regions of Poland (especially to the newly recovered territories). According to official data, over 140 thousand of Ukrainians were resettled to the northern and western regions of Poland (Łesiw 1997: 5-6, 159Łesiw 1997 / komentarz/comment/r /
Лесів, Михайло [Łesiw] 1997. Украïнські говірки у Польщі. Варшава: Украïнський Архів.
).


Ethnic groups in the General Government (from: Arlt 1940: 97Arlt 1940 / komentarz/comment/r /
Arlt, Fritz 1940. Die ukrainische Volksgruppe im Generalgouvernement. Krakau: Arlt.
).