Re: Hi from Ukraine

Lukasz wrote:
> > > As for nobody wanting to be just a borderland, tell the Danes -
>_Denmark_
> > > literally means "borderland of the Danes" (presumeably originally
>refering
> > > to the border region against Germany in South Jutland). Never heard of
> > > anybody complaining about it.
>
>Well, Ukraine as an independent state has much shorter history than Denmark
>and the name 'the (far, wild) land at the edge' suggests that it was coined
>by the residents of 'the Republic of Both Nations' (that's my literal
>translation) which is continued now as Poland (I wouldn't expect
>Belarussians and Lithuanians to feel being heirs of 'the Republic'). And I
>wouldn't expect Ukrainian archinationalists to like Poland and to like
>calling their young state in the way that sounds almost like 'outskirts of
>Poland'.
I understand that and why Unkrainian nationalist may be upset when it's
suggested that the name of their country means "borderland". I was just
pointing out that other people, in other situations, may feel perfectly at
ease with their country-name having a such etymology.

BTW, in Swedish literature the Polono-Lithuanian union is often refered to
as simply "Rzeczpospolita". Is this in use in English too?

                                                 Andreas

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