Gesta Hamburgensis trans oddara st polanos

The ethnonyms for the

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...

(people) and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

(their country) include

endonyms An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...

(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 The Lendians ( pl, Lędzianie) 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 Eu ...

(''Lędzianie'').

Endonyms

The

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

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 A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...

, 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 republican or similar form of government. Today, however, the word is used almost solely in reference to the

Polish State Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. 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 descendend 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 B.C. through the 6th ...

and

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

. 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 ( la, Gervasius Tilberiensis; 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, ...

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 ( , ; german: Warthe ; la, Varta) rises in central Poland and meanders greatly north-west to flow into the Oder, against the German border. About long, it is Poland's second-longest river within its borders after the Vistula, a ...

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

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 The Vistulans, or Vistulanians ( pl, Wiślanie), were an early medieval Lechitic tribe inhabiting the western part of modern Lesser Poland."The main tribe inhabiting the reaches of the Upper Vistula and its tributaries was the Vislane (Wislanie) ...

(''Wiślanie'') and the

, became known as ''Małopolska'', or "

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

." 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 Sarmatism (or Sarmatianism; pl, Sarmatyzm; lt, Sarmatizmas) was an ethno-cultural ideology within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was the dominant Baroque culture and ideology of the nobility () that existed in times of the Renai ...

"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 Most languages of Europe 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. Within Indo-European, the three largest phyla are Ro ...

and in some Central Asian and Middle Eastern names designating Poland, for example: * ''Leasir'' in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

* ''Lenkija'' in Lithuanian * ''Lehia'' in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

* ''Lengyelország'' in Hungarian * ''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 across the ...

* ''Lehistan'' in Ottoman Turkish, Gagauz, Kumyk, Crimean Turkishand Turkish * ''Лихѧна'' in Church Slavonic * ''Лахьыбзэ'' in Kabardian * ''Лаҳистон/Lahiston'' in Tajik * ''Ləhistan/Löhüstan'' (لهستان) in Middle Azerbaijani * ''Lahestan/Lehestan'' (لهستان) in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Uighur * ''Λεχία'' in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

* ''Lechitarum'' in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

* ''Läxstan'' in

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, Bashkir and

Siberian Tatar Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

* ''Liachistan'', ''Liachija'', ''Lech Jer'', ''Liach'', ''Liach Bijligi'' in Karaim 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 Nivea (, stylized as NIVEA) is a German personal care brand that specializes in skin and body care. It is owned by the Hamburg-based company Beiersdorf Global AG. The company was founded on 28 March 1882, by Paul Carl Beiersdorf. In 1890, it w ...

branch located in

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

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 Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...

. 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' Places * Czech, ...

''Polsko'' * Slovak ''Poľsko'' *

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...

: Пољска / Poljska * Slovene * Belarusian Польшча, ''Pol'shcha'' *

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Польща, ''Pol'shcha'' *

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Польша, ''Pol'sha'' * Bulgarian Полша, ''Polsha'' * Macedonian Полска, ''Polska'' Non-Germanic languages which borrowed their word for Poland from Slavic include: * Abkhaz Польша, ''Ṗol’ša'' * Azerbaijani, Gagauz Polşa * Bashkir, Kazakh, Kyrgyz,

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

, 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 P ...

뽈스까 ''Ppolsŭkka'' * Uzbek Польша, ''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 late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the exonym for Poland became ''Polonia''. It later became the basis for Poland's name in all

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

languages: *

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

''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 Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

, Galician,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

''Polonia'' *

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

''Polónia'' ( European) / ''Polônia'' ( Brazilian) Many other languages (e.g. Albanian ''Polonia'';

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

بولونيا ''Būlūniyā'';

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

In Germanic languages

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

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

Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the 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 spoken Germanic language, E ...

use related exonyms: *

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

''Polen'' *

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

''Poland'' * Icelandic, Faroese ''Pólland'' *

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...

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

, ''Būlandā'' * Esperanto ''Pollando, Polio / Polujo'' *

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

, ''Polín'' (Older pronunciation: ''Pólin'' and ''Polánia'') * Indonesian ''Polandia'' *

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

''An Pholainn'' *

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

ポーランド, ''Pōrando'' *

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

波兰 (simplified) or 波蘭 (traditional), ''Bōlán'' *

South Korean standard language The South Korean standard language or Pyojuneo () is the South Korean standard language, 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 Hangul ...

폴란드, ''Pollandeu'' *

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

''Ba Lan'' (波蘭)

Other

The

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

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

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 and South Slavic languages. East Slavic languages are currently spoken natively throughout Eastern Europe, and eastwards to Siber ...

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

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian border, derives its name from the same root. ''

Lachy Sądeckie Lachy may refer to: * Lachy, Marne, a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France * Lachy or Lendians, an ancient Polish tribe * Lachy Sądeckie, the Lachy culture of the Sądeckie region of Poland * Lachy, Podlaskie Voivodeship, a v ...

'' is the name of a small cultural group around Nowy Sącz in southern Lesser Poland. * Lithuanian ''Lenkija'' * Hungarian ''Lengyelország'' *

, ''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 polacca (or ''polacre'') is a type of seventeenth- to nineteenth-century sailing vessel, similar to the xebec. The name is the feminine of "Polish" in the Italian language. The polacca was frequently seen in the Mediterranean. It had two or th ...

, a type of 17th-century sailing vessel * Polka, a dance and genre of

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

originally from Bohemia;

(also Polish) "Pole" (feminine) *

Polonaise The polonaise (, ; pl, polonez ) is a dance of Polish origin, one of the five Polish national dances in time. Its name is French for "Polish" adjective feminine/"Polish woman"/"girl". The original Polish name of the dance is Chodzony, meani ...

, several meanings including a dance of Polish origin; from French ''polonaise'', "Polish" (feminine) * Pologne, several meanings including

Polish Haitians Polish Haitians ( ht, Poloné or ''La Pologne'') are Haitian people of Polish ancestry dating to the early 19th century; a few may be Poles of more recent native birth who have gained Haitian citizenship. Cazale, a small village in the hills a ...

, from French name for Poland *

1112 Polonia 1112 Polonia, provisional designation , is an Eoan asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. Discovered by Soviet astronomer Pelageya Shajn at Simeiz in 1928, it was the first asteroid discovery made by a ...

, an asteroid; from Latin ''Polonia'', "Poland" *

Polonium Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84. Polonium is a chalcogen. A rare and highly radioactive metal with no stable isotopes, polonium is chemically similar to selenium and tellurium, though its metallic character ...

, a chemical element; from Latin ''Polonia'' * Polska, a dance of Swedish origin; from Swedish ''polska'', "Polish" *

Poulaine Crakows or crackowes were a style of shoes with extremely long toes very popular in 15th century Europe. They were so named because the style was thought to have originated in Kraków, the then capital of Poland. They are also known as poula ...

s, a type of shoes popular in the 15th century in Europe; from

Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intellig ...

''polain'', "Polish" * 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