Gesta Hamburgensis trans oddara st polanos

The

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

s for the

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

(people) and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(their country) 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'').

Endonyms

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

is ''Polska''. The latter Polish word is an adjectival form which has developed into a substantive

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

, most probably originating in the phrase ''polska ziemia'', meaning "Polish land".

Rzeczpospolita

The full official name of the Polish state is ''Rzeczpospolita Polska'' which translates to "Republic of Poland". The word ''rzeczpospolita'' has been used in

since at least the 16th century. Originally it was a generic term used to denote any state with a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

an 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.

Language roots

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 Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium BC through the 6th ...

and

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

. It may derive from the word ''pole'', Polish for "field". Many ancient tribes in Europe derived their names from the nature of the land they inhabited.

Gervase of Tilbury Gervase of Tilbury (; 1150–1220) was an English canon lawyer, statesman and cleric. He enjoyed the favour of Henry II of England and later of Henry's grandson, Emperor Otto IV, for whom he wrote his best known work, the '' Otia Imperialia''. ...

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 The river Warta ( , ; ; ) rises in central Poland and meanders greatly through the Polish Plain in a north-westerly direction to flow into the Oder at Kostrzyn nad Odrą on Poland's border with Germany. About long, it the second-longest rive ...

basin. During the 10th century, they managed to subdue and unite the Slavic tribes between the rivers

Oder The Oder ( ; Czech and ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and its largest tributary the Warta. The Oder rises in the Czech Republic and flows through wes ...

and Bug into a single

feudal state Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring societ ...

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 Greater Poland, often known by its Polish name Wielkopolska (; ), is a Polish Polish historical regions, historical region of west-central Poland. Its chief and largest city is Poznań followed by Kalisz, the oldest city in Poland. The bound ...

", while the lands conquered towards the end of the 10th century, home of the

Vistulans The Vistulans, or Vistulanians (), were an early medieval Lechitic tribe inhabiting the western part of modern Lesser Poland. Etymology Their name derives from the hydronym of the river Vistula, meaning "inhabitants of Vistula"; the region is m ...

(''Wiślanie'') and the Lendians, became known as ''Małopolska'', or "

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

." 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).

"Poland" in European literary sources

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.

Lechia

Lechia is an ancient name of Poland, stemming from the legendary founder and supposed ruler, ''Lech'' (a common first name today). The root syllable survives in several

European languages There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three larges ...

and in some Central Asian and Middle Eastern names designating Poland, for example: * ''Lenkija'' in Lithuanian * ''Lehia'' in Romanian * ''Lengyelország'' in Hungarian * ''Լեհաստան "Lehastan" '' in

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

* ''Lehistan'' in

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

, modern Turkish, Gagauz, Kumyk, and Crimean Tatar * ''Ləhistan/Löhüstan'' (لهستان) in Middle Azerbaijani and Qashqai * in

Church Slavonic Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The ...

* in Kabardian * in Tajik * ''Lahistān/Lehestān'' (لهستان) in Persian and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

* in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

* ''Läxstan'' in Tatar, Bashkir and Siberian Tatar * ''Liachistan'', ''Liachija'', ''Lech Jer'', ''Liach'', ''Liach Bijligi'' in Karaim Similar names were used in older languages, such as: * in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

* ''Leasir'' in

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

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 Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

, the Nivea branch located in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

was named the Pollena-Lechia Cosmetics Factory (''Fabryka Kosmetyków Pollena-Lechia'').

Exonyms

Variations of the country endonym ''Polska'' became exonyms in other languages.

In Slavic languages

Exonyms for Poland in

Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavs, Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic language, Proto- ...

. The West Slavic languages such as Czech and Slovak bear particular resemblance to the Polish endonym: * Kashubian ''Pòlskô'' *

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

''Polsko'' * Slovak ''Poľsko'' *

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

: Пољска / Poljska * Slovene * Belarusian Польшча, ''Pol'shcha'' * Ukrainian Польща, ''Pol'shcha'' * Russian Польша, ''Pol'sha'' * Bulgarian Полша, ''Polsha'' * Macedonian Полска, ''Polska'' Non-Slavic languages which borrowed their word for Poland from Slavic include: * Abkhaz Польша, ''Ṗol’ša'' * Azerbaijani, Gagauz Polşa * Bashkir, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Turkmen Польша, ''Polşa'' *

North Korean standard language North Korean standard language or () is the North Korean standard version of the Korean language. Munhwaŏ was adopted as the standard in 1966. The adopting proclamation stated that the Pyongan dialect spoken in the North Korean capital Pyon ...

뽈스까 ''Ppolsŭkka'' * Uzbek Польша, ''Polsha'' * Uyghur پولشا, ''Polsha''

In Romance languages

, which was the principal written language of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the exonym for Poland became ''Polonia''. It later became the basis for Poland's name in all Romance languages: * Catalan ''Polònia'' *

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

''Polonha'' * French ''Pologne'' * Italian, Galician, Romanian, Spanish ''Polonia'' * Portuguese ''Polónia'' ( European) / ''Polônia'' ( Brazilian) Many other languages (e.g. Albanian ''Polonia'';

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

بولونيا ''Būlūniyā'';

Πολωνία, ''Polōnía''; Maltese ''Polonja'') use a variation of the Latin name.

In Germanic languages

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

, Poland's western neighbors, called it ''Polen''. Other

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...

use related exonyms: * Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian ''Polen'' * English ''Poland'' * Icelandic, Faroese ''Pólland'' *

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, ''Poyln'' Non-Germanic languages which borrowed their word for Poland from Germanic include: *

, ''Būlandā'' *

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

''Pollando, Polio / Polujo'' *

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, ''Polín'' (Older pronunciation: ''Pólin'' and ''Polánia'') * Indonesian ''Polandia'' * Irish ''An Pholainn'' * Japanese ポーランド, ''Pōrando'' * Chinese 波兰 (simplified) or 波蘭 (traditional), ''Bōlán'' *

South Korean standard language The South Korean standard language or Pyojuneo () is the South Korean standard version of the Korean language. It is based on the Seoul dialect, although various words are borrowed from other regional dialects. It uses the Korean alphabet, create ...

폴란드, ''Pollandeu'' * Vietnamese ''Ba Lan'' (波蘭)

Other

The Lendians, a Proto-Polish tribe who lived around the confluence of the rivers

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

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". Their name was borrowed to refer to Poland mainly by peoples who lived east or south of Poland: * лях (''lyakh'') is used in

East Slavic languages The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of the Slavic languages, distinct from the West Slavic languages, West and South Slavic languages. East Slavic languages are currently spoken natively throughout Eastern Europe, ...

. It also appears in Polish literature as ''Lachy'', a synonym for "Poles" and "Poland" used by East Slavic characters.

Podlasie 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. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

, a Polish region on the

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

ian border, derives its name from the same root. '' Lachy Sądeckie'' is the name of a small cultural group around

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; ; ; ; ) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. With a population of 83,116 as of 2021, it is the largest city in the Beskid S ...

in southern Lesser Poland. * Lithuanian ''Lenkija'' * Hungarian ''Lengyelország'' * Persian , ''Lahestān''. The word combines Lah with a common Persian suffix -stān, which means "The land of". * Turkish ''Lehistan'', a borrowing from Persian. It is now considered obsolete and replaced by ''Polonya''. *

, ''Lehastan'' was also borrowed from Persian.

Related words

Some common English words, as well as scientific nomenclature, derive from exonyms of Poland in various languages. * Alla polacca, like a polonaise (in musical notation); Italian for "Polish style" * Polacca, a type of 17th-century sailing vessel *

Polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

, a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and genre of

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

originally from

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

;

(also Polish) "Pole" (feminine) *

Polonaise The polonaise (, ; , ) is a dance originating in Poland, and one of the five Polish folk dances#National Dances, Polish national dances in Triple metre, time. The original Polish-language name of the dance is ''chodzony'' (), denoting a walki ...

, several meanings including a dance of Polish origin; from French ''polonaise'', "Polish" (feminine) * Pologne, several meanings including Polish Haitians, from French name for Poland * 1112 Polonia, an asteroid; from Latin ''Polonia'', "Poland" *

Polonium Polonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Po and atomic number 84. A rare and highly radioactive metal (although sometimes classified as a metalloid) with no stable isotopes, polonium is a chalcogen and chemically similar to selenium and tel ...

, a chemical element; from Latin ''Polonia'' * Polska, a dance of Swedish origin; from Swedish ''polska'', "Polish" * Poulaines, a type of shoes popular in the 15th century in Europe; from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th Polonia, the term to describe people of Polish origin living outside of Poland and in other countries.

References

External links

List of exonyms for Poland
article at geonames.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Name Of Poland History of Poland

Polish language