Reply #16: Wikipedia says... [View All]

[Tom Kitten]

The country is often referred to as the Ukraine in English. However, this usage is now deprecated by many media organisations, partly for stylistic reasons (compare "the Lebanon" and "the Sudan") and partly because of its implication that Ukraine is merely a region rather than a country.

The region has also been known as Rus’ or Ruthenia, and in Russian historiography as Little or Lesser Russia (Malorossiya). This gave rise to the formal title of Russia's Tsar, the "Tsar of all the Russias" - the others being Russia proper and White Russia (now Belarus).

The current name is derived in various ways according to Slavic etymology. It may signify "borderland" or "on the edge"; alternatively, the name may be taken to mean "homeland" or "one's own land"; finally some trace the name to a verb meaning, "to cut", indicating the land the Rus' people (or Ruthenians or Ukrainians) carved out for themselves.

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Off on a tangent here, but did you know the dish Chicken Kiev is not Ukrainian or Russian in origin at all, but French?