The ethnonyms for the Poles (people) [1] and Poland (their country) [2] include endonyms (the way Polish people refer to themselves and their country) and exonyms (the way other peoples refer to the Poles and their country). Endonyms and most exonyms for Poles and Poland derive from the name of the West Slavic tribe of Polans (Polanie), while in some languages the exonyms for Poland to derive from the name of another tribe – the Lendians (Lędzianie).
The Polish words for a Pole are Polak (masculine) and Polka (feminine), Polki being the plural form for two or more women and Polacy being the plural form for the rest. The adjective "Polish" translates to Polish as polski (masculine), polska (feminine) and polskie (neuter). The common Polish name for Poland is Polska. The latter Polish word is an adjectival form which has developed into a substantive noun, most probably originating in the phrase polska ziemia, meaning "Polish land". [3]
The full official name of the Polish state is Rzeczpospolita Polska which translates to "Republic of Poland". The word rzeczpospolita has been used in Poland since at least the 16th century. Originally it was a generic term used to denote any state with a republican or similar form of government. Today, however, the word is used almost solely in reference to the Polish State. Any other republic is referred to as republika in modern Polish.
It is often assumed that all of the above names derive from the name of the Polans (Polanie), a West Slavic tribe which inhabited the territories of present-day Poland in the 9th–10th centuries. The origin of the name Polanie is theorized to be descended ultimately from Proto-Slavic and Proto-Indo-European. It may derive from the word pole, Polish for "field". [4]
Many ancient tribes in Europe derived their names from the nature of the land they inhabited. Gervase of Tilbury wrote in his Otia imperialia ("Recreation for an Emperor", 1211): Inter Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia, sic dicta in eorum idiomate quasi Campania.(translation: "Between the Hunnic Alps and the Ocean there is Poland, thus called "Countryside" in their idiom.") Polans may have used Polska to describe their own territory in the Warta River basin. During the 10th century, they managed to subdue and unite the Slavic tribes between the rivers Oder and Bug into a single feudal state and in the early 11th century, the name Polska was extended to the entire ethnically Polish territory. The lands originally inhabited by the Polans became known as Staropolska, or "Old Poland", and later as Wielkopolska, or "Greater Poland", while the lands conquered towards the end of the 10th century, home of the Vistulans (Wiślanie) and the Lendians, became known as Małopolska, or "Lesser Poland."
In Polish literature, Poland is sometimes referred to as Lechia, derived from Lech, the legendary founder of Poland. In the 17th–18th centuries, Sarmaci ("Sarmatians") was a popular name by which Polish nobles referred to themselves (see Sarmatism).
The earliest recorded mention of "Poland" is found in a Latin text written in 1003 and titled "Annales Hildesheimenses": "Heinricus Berthaldi comitis filius, et Bruno frater regis, et ambo Bolizavones, Polianicus vide licet ac Boemicus, a rege infideliter maiestatis rei deficient." In English: Henry, son of Berthold, and Bruno, brother of the king, and both Boleslaws, Polish and Czech, left the circle of friends of the Emperor. [5]
Lechia is an ancient name of Poland, [6] [7] stemming from the legendary founder and supposed ruler, Lech (a common first name today). The root syllable survives in several European languages and in some Central Asian and Middle Eastern names designating Poland, for example:
Similar names were used in older languages, such as:
Several Polish sports organizations have adopted the name Lechia. The best-known example is Lechia Gdańsk. Other examples include Lechia Lwów and Lechia Zielona Góra. In the People's Republic of Poland, the Nivea branch located in Poznań was named the Pollena-Lechia Cosmetics Factory (Fabryka Kosmetyków Pollena-Lechia).
Variations of the country endonym Polska became exonyms in other languages.
Exonyms for Poland in Slavic languages. The West Slavic languages such as Czech and Slovak bear particular resemblance to the Polish endonym:
Non-Slavic languages which borrowed their word for Poland from Slavic include:
In Latin, which was the principal written language of the Middle Ages, the exonym for Poland became Polonia. It later became the basis for Poland's name in all Romance languages:
Many other languages (e.g. Albanian Polonia; Arabic بولونيا Būlūniyā; Greek Πολωνία, Polōnía; Maltese Polonja) use a variation of the Latin name.
Germans, Poland's western neighbors, called it Polen. Other Germanic languages use related exonyms:
Non-Germanic languages which borrowed their word for Poland from Germanic include:
The Lendians, a Proto-Polish tribe who lived around the confluence of the rivers Vistula and San (south-eastern Poland), are the source of another exonym. The tribe's name likely comes from the Proto-Polish word lęda, or "scorched land". [3] Their name was borrowed to refer to Poland mainly by peoples who lived east or south of Poland:
Some common English words, as well as scientific nomenclature, derive from exonyms of Poland in various languages.
Polish is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group within the Indo-European language family written in the Latin script. It is primarily spoken in Poland and serves as the official language of the country, as well as the language of the Polish diaspora around the world. In 2024, there were over 39.7 million Polish native speakers. It ranks as the sixth most-spoken among languages of the European Union. Polish is subdivided into regional dialects and maintains strict T–V distinction pronouns, honorifics, and various forms of formalities when addressing individuals.
The Lechiticlanguages are a language subgroup consisting of Polish and several other languages and dialects that were once spoken in the area that is now Poland and eastern Germany. It is one of the branches of the larger West Slavic subgroup; the other branches of this subgroup are the Czech–Slovak languages and the Sorbian languages.
Polish people, or Poles, are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Central Europe. The preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland defines the Polish nation as comprising all the citizens of Poland, regardless of heritage or ethnicity. The majority of Poles adhere to Roman Catholicism.
Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie, is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn.
The Polans or Polians, also known as Polanians, Polianians, and Eastern Polans, were an East Slavic tribe between the 6th and the 9th century, which inhabited both sides of the Dnieper river from Liubech to Rodnia and also down the lower streams of the rivers Ros', Sula, Stuhna, Teteriv, Irpin', Desna and Pripyat.
The Polans, also known as Polanians or Western Polans, were a West Slavic and Lechitic tribe, inhabiting the Warta River basin of the contemporary Greater Poland region starting in the 6th century. They were one of the main tribes in Central Europe and were closely related to the Vistulans, Masovians, Czechs and Slovaks. According to Zygmunt Gloger, their name was derived from the word "pole" meaning "field", thus denoting them as "men of the fields".
Lech, Czech and Rus refers to a founding legend of three Slavic brothers who founded three Slavic peoples: the Poles, the Czechs, and the Ruthenians. The three legendary brothers appear together in the Wielkopolska Chronicle, compiled in the early 14th century. The legend states that the brothers, on a hunting trip, followed different prey and thus travelled in different directions: Lech in the northwest, Czech in the west, and Rus in the northeast. There are multiple versions of the legend, including several regional variants throughout West Slavic, and to lesser extent, other Slavic countries that mention only one or two brothers. The three also figure into the origin myth of South Slavic peoples in some legends. Their stories are often, to some extent as well, used as a myth to understand the eventual foundation of the Polish, Czech and Ruthenian states, in accordance with the legend.
An endonym is a common, native name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate themselves, their place of origin, or their language.
"Polish tribes" is a term used sometimes to describe the tribes of West Slavic Lechites that lived from around the mid-6th century in the territories that became Polish with the creation of the Polish state by the Piast dynasty. The territory on which they lived became a part of the first Polish state created by duke Mieszko I and expanded at the end of the 10th century, enlarged further by conquests of king Bolesław I at the beginning of the 11th century.
This article covers the history of Poland in the Middle Ages. This time covers roughly a millennium, from the 5th century to the 16th century. It is commonly dated from the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, and contrasted with a later Early Modern Period. The time during which the rise of humanism in the Italian Renaissance and the Reformation unfolded is generally associated with the transition out of the Middle Ages, with European overseas expansion as a succeeding process, but such dates are approximate and based upon nuanced arguments.
The Vistulans, or Vistulanians, were an early medieval Lechitic tribe inhabiting the western part of modern Lesser Poland.
The West Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak the West Slavic languages. They separated from the common Slavic group around the 7th century, and established independent polities in Central Europe by the 8th to 9th centuries. The West Slavic languages diversified into their historically attested forms over the 10th to 14th centuries.
There are many widely varying names of Germany in different languages, more so than for any other European nation. For example:
The Lendians were a Lechitic tribe who lived in the area of East Lesser Poland and Cherven Cities between the 7th and 11th centuries. Since they were documented primarily by foreign authors whose knowledge of Central and East Europe geography was often vague, they were recorded by different names, which include Lendzanenoi, Lendzaninoi, Lz’njn, Lachy, Lyakhs, Landzaneh, Lendizi, Licicaviki and Litziki.
Lechites, also known as the Lechitic tribes, is a name given to certain West Slavic tribes who inhabited modern-day Poland and eastern Germany, and were speakers of the Lechitic languages. Distinct from the Czech–Slovak subgroup, they are the closest ancestors of ethnic Poles and of Pomeranians, Lusatians and Polabians.
The Silesians were a tribe of West Slavs, specifically of the Lechitic/Polish group, inhabiting territories of Lower Silesia, near Ślęża mountain and Ślęza river, on both banks of the Oder, up to the area of modern city of Wrocław. They were the first permanent inhabitants of the site of Wrocław where they build a fort on Ostrów Tumski in the 9th century or earlier, which at the time was an island on the Oder.
The most important phenomenon that took place within the lands of Poland in the Early Middle Ages, as well as other parts of Central Europe was the arrival and permanent settlement of the West Slavic or Lechitic peoples. The Slavic migrations to the area of contemporary Poland started in the second half of the 5th century AD, about a half century after these territories were vacated by Germanic tribes fleeing from the Huns. The first waves of the incoming Slavs settled the vicinity of the upper Vistula River and elsewhere in the lands of present southeastern Poland and southern Masovia. Coming from the east, from the upper and middle regions of the Dnieper River, the immigrants would have had come primarily from the western branch of the early Slavs known as Sclaveni, and since their arrival are classified as West Slavs and Lechites, who are the closest ancestors of Poles.[a]
Artur Sobiech is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Cypriot club Ethnikos Achna.
Lach, Lyakh or Ljach is a surname. It was used by East Slavs to refer to Poles. Ethnic Poles in Nowy Sącz also used the name, referring to themselves as Lachy Sądeckie. According to Paweł Jasienica, it derives from the name of an ancient Polish tribe, the Lendians. Due to population resettlements of ethnic Poles after the Soviet annexation of eastern Polish territories, it is slightly more frequent in western Poland. Over 10,000 people have this surname in Poland. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Lach served as a short form of the personal name Ladislav. It is also a variant of Lah, a Slovene word for Vlachs.
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)[...] 'eastern Wends,' meaning obviously the Vjatyci/Radimici, Laesir 'Poles' or 'Western Slavs' (cf. Old Rus'ian ljaxy) [...].
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