Rus (name)
The term Rus ( Русь in the East Slavic languages ) is mainly used today for a historical region in Eastern Europe . The name comes from the Rus , a tribe or a polyethnic social group, who used the route from the Varangians to the Greeks and other waterways in Eastern Europe, unified this area for the first time under their rule and initially constituted the upper class of the newly established statehood ( Kievan Rus ) . The etymology of the name Rus is closely related to the question of the origin of the Rus.
- Norman theory ( Scandinavian theory ): This is the theory advocated by the majority of scientists today. The name Rus is derived from the Finnish name for Sweden / Northern Germanen , Ruotsi , or from their presumed home in Sweden, Roslagen . The Finnish "Ruotsi" is borrowed from the old Germanic word for "oar". On the other hand, however, the objection is that in the genitive initial member * Rōþs the initial vowel cannot be silenced before the 6th century, and that is too late to name a tribe that has been neighboring since ancient times.
- East Slavic theory : Rus is the name of a tribe of the East Slavs (part of the Polans ) who lived south of present-day Kiev along the Ros River . The name of the tribe can either come from the Slavic word for "red, bright" ( rusyj ) or from the name of the river. “Rus” was a root word for water in the Old Slavonic language and is preserved today in words such as Русло (river bed), Русалка (water nymph) and Роса (morning dew) as well as in the verb орошать (to water) . Rus could therefore not necessarily be a tribal name, but the name for all people who sailed the rivers. A tribe of Rossomones (Ros-Mannen) became known as early as the 6th century (Jordan), long before the arrival of the Varangians. This theory enjoyed great popularity in the Soviet Union , but is rarely supported outside the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
- Alanic theory ( Iranian theory ): According to some German, Russian and British linguists and historians , the term Rus could go back to an Alanic branch of the Ruchs-as or to the Sarmatian Roxolans . Both tribal names contain, as well as the Iranian and Russian first names Rustam and Ruslan , Old Northern Iranian Raochschna = "white, light"; Rus as a common name would therefore mean "the bright, shining ones". The presence of non-assimilated Alans in the settlements and cities of the early Kievan Rus is archaeologically proven. However, this theory is rejected by most scientists. The Alanian theory is particularly unlikely because the Alans lived more in the south of the Rus, and in very few numbers. In addition, the Alans in early Rus were not as well organized as the Scandinavian predators.
- West Slavic theory : A theory that only very few historians hold is the following: The name is derived from the West Slavic tribe of the Ranen ( Rujanen ), who participated intensively in the Baltic Sea trade and in the Varangian expeditions . The name of the Russian dynasty founder Rurik is derived from the West Slavonic Rarog.
Rus is the term favored in today's science, borrowed directly from the East Slavic languages. Historical German names are Russia , Reussen and Ruthenien , which are either no longer in use today or (like Russia) were given a more specific meaning.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gottfried Schramm: Old Russia's Beginning. Freiburg 2002, ISBN 3-7930-9268-2 . P. 609.