Russia

==Etymology==
{{Main|Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia}}According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', the English name ''Russia'' first appeared in the 14th century, borrowed from {{Lang-la-x-medieval|Russia}}, used in the 11th century and frequently in 12th-century British sources, in turn derived from {{Lang-la-x-medieval|Russi|lit=the Russians|label=none}} and the suffix {{Lang-la-x-medieval|[[wikt:-ia#Latin|-ia]]|label=none}}.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 2023 |title=Russia (n.), Etymology |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/russia_n?tab=etymology |website=Oxford English Dictionary |doi=10.1093/OED/2223074989 |access-date=3 January 2024 |archive-date=22 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122215843/https://www.oed.com/dictionary/russia_n?tab=etymology |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Kuchkin|first=V. A.|title=|publisher=Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Ladomir|year=2014|editor-last=Melnikova|editor-first=E. A.|location=Moscow|pages=700–701|language=ru|script-title=ru:Древняя Русь в средневековом мире|trans-title=Old Rus' in the medieval world|script-chapter=ru:Русская земля|trans-chapter=Russian land|editor-last2=Petrukhina|editor-first2=V. Ya.}}</ref> In modern historiography, this state is usually denoted as ''[[Kievan Rus']]'' after its capital city.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kort |first1=Michael |title=A Brief History of Russia |date=2008 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=978-0816071135 |location=New York |page=6}}</ref> Another Medieval Latin name for Rus' was [[Ruthenia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Nazarenko |first=Aleksandr Vasilevich|author-link=Aleksandr Nazarenko|script-title=ru:Древняя Русь на международных путях: междисциплинарные очерки культурных, торговых, политических связей IX–XII веков |year=2001 |publisher=Languages of the Rus' culture |isbn=978-5-7859-0085-1 |pages=40, 42–45, 49–50 |chapter=1. Имя "Русь" в древнейшей западноевропейской языковой традиции (XI–XII века)|trans-title=Old Rus' on international routes: interdisciplinary essays on cultural, trade, and political ties in the 9th–12th centuries |language=ru|trans-chapter=The name Rus' in the old tradition of Western European language (XI-XII centuries)|chapter-url=http://dgve.csu.ru/download/Nazarenko_2001_01.djvu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814143443/http://dgve.csu.ru/download/Nazarenko_2001_01.djvu |archive-date=14 August 2011}}</ref>

In Russian, the current name of the country, {{Lang|ru|Россия|italic=no}} ({{Lang|ru-latn|Rossiya}}), comes from the [[Byzantine Greek]] name for Rus', {{Lang|grc|Ρωσία|italic=no}} ({{Lang|grc-latn|Rosía}}).<ref>{{cite book |title=The Russians: The People of Europe |last=Milner-Gulland |first=R. R. |year=1997 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |isbn=978-0-631-21849-4 |pages=1–4}}</ref> A new form of the name ''Rus{{'}}'', {{lang|ru|Росия|italic=no}} ({{lang|ru-latn|Rosiya}}), was borrowed from the Greek term and first attested in 1387.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Obolensky |first1=Dimitri |url=https://archive.org/details/byzantiumslavs0000obol/page/16/mode/2up |title=Byzantium and the Slavs |date=1994 |publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press |isbn=9780881410082 |location=Crestwood, NY |pages=17}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=January 2024}} The name {{Transliteration|ru|Rossiia}} appeared in Russian sources in the late 15th century, but until the end of the 17th century the country was more often referred to by its inhabitants as Rus{{'}}, the Russian land ({{Transliteration|ru|Russkaia zemlia}}), or the Muscovite state ({{Transliteration|ru|Moskovskoe gosudarstvo}}), among other variations.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Langer |first1=Lawrence N. |title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval Russia |date=2021 |location=Lanham |isbn=978-1538119426 |page=182 |edition=2nd |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield}}</ref><ref name="Hellberg-Hirn-1998">{{cite book |last1=Hellberg-Hirn |first1=Elena |title=Soil and Soul: The Symbolic World of Russianness |date=1998 |publisher=Ashgate |location=Aldershot [Hants, England] |isbn=1855218712 |pages=54}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |title=The origins of the Slavic nations: premodern identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus |date=2010 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-521-15511-3 |edition=1st |location=Cambridge |pages=213–14, 285}}</ref> In 1721, Peter the Great changed the name of the state from [[Tsardom of Russia]] ({{lang-ru|Русское царство|translit=Russkoye tsarstvo}}) or Tsardom of Muscovy ({{Lang-ru|Московское царство|translit=Moskovskoye tsarstvo}})<ref name="Monahan2016">{{cite book |last1=Monahan |first1=Erika |title=The Encyclopedia of Empire |year=2016 |isbn=978-1118455074 |pages=1–6 |chapter=Russia: 3. Tsardom of Muscovy (1547–1721) |doi=10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe425}}</ref><ref name="Magocsi2010">{{cite book |last=Magocsi |first=Paul R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TA1zVKTTsXUC&pg=PA223 |title=A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4426-1021-7 |page=223 |author-link=Paul Robert Magocsi |access-date=19 August 2016}}</ref> to [[Russian Empire]] ({{Transliteration|ru|Rossiiskaia imperiia}}).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

There are several words in Russian which translate to "Russians" in English. The noun and adjective {{Lang-ru|русский |translit=russkiy|label=none}} refers to ethnic [[Russians]]. The adjective {{Lang-ru|российский|translit=rossiiskiy|label=none}} denotes [[Russian citizenship law|Russian citizens]] regardless of ethnicity. The same applies to the more recently coined noun {{Lang-ru|россиянин|translit=rossiianyn|label=none}}, "Russian" in the sense of citizen of the Russian state.<ref name="Hellberg-Hirn-1998" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Merridale |first=Catherine |title=Redesigning History in Contemporary Russia |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |year=2003 |volume=38 |number=1 |pages=13–28 |doi=10.1177/0022009403038001961 |jstor=3180694 |s2cid=143597960}}</ref>

According to the [[Primary Chronicle]], the word Rus' is derived from the [[Rus' people]], who were a [[Swedes|Swedish]] tribe, and where the three original members of the [[Rurikid]] dynasty came from.<ref>{{cite book |last=Duczko |first=Wladyslaw |title=Viking Rus |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-90-04-13874-2 |pages=10–11}}</ref> The [[Finnish language|Finnish]] word for Swedes, ''ruotsi'', has the same origin.<ref>"The Origin of Rus'". Omeljan Pritsak. ''The Russian Review''. Vol. 36, No. 3 (July 1977), pp. 249-273 (25 pages). {{doi|10.2307/128848}}; {{JSTOR|128848}}. {{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/128848 |title=The Origin of Rus' |jstor=128848 |access-date=19 October 2023 |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025004709/https://www.jstor.org/stable/128848 |url-status=bot: unknown |last1=Pritsak |first1=Omeljan |journal=The Russian Review |date=5 April 1977 |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=249–273 |doi=10.2307/128848 }}.</ref> 
Later archeological studies mostly confirmed this theory.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Swedish Vikings: Who Were the Rus? |url=https://cjadrien.com/swedish-vikings-rus/ |first1=C.J. |last1=Adrien |date=Apr 19, 2020 |access-date=19 October 2023 |archive-date=25 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231025005710/https://cjadrien.com/swedish-vikings-rus/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=January 2024}}