Belarus: "Belarusian" and "Belarusan" the correct adjective forms

[Whiteruthenian]

http://pravapis.org/art_belarusian_adjective.asp

Belarus: "Belarusian" and "Belarusan" the correct adjective forms

Uladzimir Katkouski

Yes, there is a country called Belarus somewhere on the outskirts of Europe. Millions of English-speaking people know very little about this country and its language, and usually one of the very first questions that arises when people first encounter the name is: "What is the correct adjective form, and how does one pronounce it?"

This seemingly easy question does not have a simple one-word answer. Google shows that Internet users spell it any way they want to; there is no firmly established norm. Nevertheless, these Google statistics are a useful indicator of popular usage, and I will use them as a starting point to investigate the situation with the adjective.

I have written a simple script that loops through virtually all conceivable spellings ("B[..|i|y]el[a|o]rus[s][i]an", a total of 24 possibilities) and feeds them to Google. These were the search results when I ran the script back in October 2002:

1. Belarusian – 198000
2. Byelorussian - 54000
3. Belarussian - 47000
4. Belorussian - 32600
5. Belarusan 5550
6. Belorusian 1120
7. Bielorussian 918
8. Byelarussian 359
9. Byelorusian 90
10. Bielarusian 66
11. Belorusan 52
12. Belarussan 27
13. Bielorusian 23
14. Byelarusian 17
15. Bielarussian 13
16. Bielarusan 6
17. Byelorusan 4
18. Belorussan 3
19. Byelarusan 2
20. Byelorussan 1
21. Bielorussan 0
22. Bielorusan 0
23. Bielarussan 0
24. Byelarussan 0
Est. total: 340000

Obviously, Belarusian is the leader, and indeed it is widely accepted to be the correct form of the adjective. It is used in United Nations documents and in English versions of official government documents in Belarus. The above statistics show that the adjective Belarusian is used roughly 60% of the time (198,000/340,000*100%). It may seem a relatively high number, but in my opinion it is awfully low, because it means that 40% of the internet users use some alternative spelling, and therefore do not find all the information they could've found about the topic had they known and used the correct spelling.

Note: Google engine also considers this to be the correct form, and alleviates the problem of wrong searches by offering a "spell check" warning, in case you spelled it differently.

The adjective Byelorussian is still very wide-spread over the Web (54,000 pages according to the above data). This is an old Soviet form that stems from the Russian spelling of our name. During the long Soviet occupation, the outside world received all its information about Belarus through Russians, so this form used to be dominant. Even today, some sources such as Russian news agencies still use this form, perhaps to emphasize the kinship with the White "brothers." Also, in my experience, even Russian speakers from Belarus itself who learned English from Russian textbooks are accustomed to the now-deprecated form Byelorussian.

Some even go so far as to use the expression "White Russian" which is even more misleading. In fact, "White Russian" could be confused with the term "Whites" which refers to the Tsarist supporters in Russia who fought against the "Reds" (Bolsheviks) during the October Revolution and the Civil War, which has nothing to do with Belarus. The same problem exsits in languages other than English (e.g., German, Swedish and many others) where the adjective for Belarus etymologically means "White Russian", but discussing this misnomer is beyond the scope of this article.

Given the destructive nature of the Russian imperial rule that Belarus had to endure, many people in Belarus would find the adjective Byelorussian even offensive. So if you want to treat Belarusians with respect, eliminate Byelorussian and other similar forms (Belorussian) from your vocabulary.

The third most popular spelling is Belarussian, with 47,000 pages. To the best of my knowledge, this form is not officially endorsed by anybody, and most probably it is simply a "hybrid" form, a strange compromise between Belarusian and Byelorussian. Or, perhaps, it simply indicates ignorance on the part of English speakers. Paul B. Gallagher also notes that we should consider the fact that many instances of intervocalic "s" in English spelling are pronounced as /z/, so an "ss" spelling may be an attempt to make sure the consonant is not voiced. For example, figure skater's last name Marina Anisina is often spelled Anissina in English.

Belarusan ranks only fifth, but it is considered the only acceptable form by some hardcore linguistic purists in Belarus. Moreover, it was used by the United Nations from 1992 to 1995. It is also used by the BNR ("Belarusan National Republic") government-in-exile. Some academics use this form. For example, professor Zaprudnik uses Belarusan in his book Belarus: At a Crossroads in History and in other publications.

So, the simplest answer to the original question is that Belarusian and Belarusan are the two forms that would be considered correct by most experts. But the second part of the question remains unanswered: how would you pronounce them? Not being a native English speaker, I am definitely not an authority on this issue. Based on my experience native English speakers usually pronounce the word Belarusian as [Bèl@rúsi@n], while Belarusan is pronounced as [Bèl@rús@n]. Please, see the explanation in the accompanying text box. I think, most people have already learned this and don't pronounce the second part of the word as "russian." Another alternative pronunication that I've heard a few times is [Bèl@rúsh@n] ("sh" as in "share"), but this is not so widespread, perhaps because the name is still relatively new in English, and the morpheme boundary still feels pretty firm for the native speakers of English.

Finally, an inquisitive reader might ask: "But why all the fuss? Doesn't the word Belarus actually mean White Russia, if you translate it literally?" This is a widespread misconception. Rus refers to the Eastern Slavic lands that nowadays belong mostly to Belarus and Ukraine. There is a Latin term for Rus which has been used in English scholarly works as well: Ruthenia. So, etymologically, the word Belarus means "Ruthenia Alba" or "White Ruthenia." Indeed, for centuries Russian historians have tried to confuse the situation by equating Ruthenian with Russian. But in Belarusian language there is a clear distinction between ruski (refering to Ruthenia) and rasiejski (refering to Russia). Unfortunately, in many other languages there is no special word for Ruthenia (Rus), so this differentiation may be difficult. But, essentially, it must be clear that "Belarus" does not mean "White Russia", but rather "White Ruthenia." For further reading I would like to recommend a great book by Ales Biely The Chronicles of White Rus' - Chronicon Russiae Albae, published in 2000 in Belarusian language.

Big thanks to Paul B. Gallagher, Cynthia C. Ramsey and Emily Tall for proof-reading, editing tips and helpful suggestions.


[bèl@-rús-i-@n] and [bèl@-rús@n]
Key:
è – e as in "bet," secondary stress
@ – a as in "sofa," i.e., schwa
ú – u as in "rule," primary stress
i – i as in hundreds of place names: "Algerian," etc.

[Whiteruthenian]

Name: Alexander Yudin
1/21/2006 7:45:57 PM

The seemingly easy question indeed perplexed the author. It definitely would have "a simple one-word answer" if he hadn't tried to look for spelling expertise on the Internet. The Internet community, by definition, is NOT an expert in anything. It is true, however, that there is no firmly established norm, the reason being that the laudable desire to be independent in everything leads to independence of spelling rules and common sense. Now, the spelling rules suggest that if Belarus is the word you make an adjective from and -ian is the suffix, then you have to double the consonant after the short syllable at the end: Belarussian. (That, by the way, is a rule of the English language.)So you get the 2nd type syllable which reads accordingly: [belarashn]. If you leave one "s", it will have to be [belaru:zhn] according to the same damned English rules. So, the correct and only answer to the question is number 3: Belarussian. (In other words, it is not compromise or ignorance.) Everything else is either the old Soviet tradition (Byelorussian) or a mistake.

The word that is said to be correct and used in United Nations documents and English versions of official governments in Belarus, Belarusian, is LINGUISTICALLY WRONG although it may be accepted for whatever reasons, political or organizational among them.

The UN, like Internet, is NOT an expert in languages either. Let alone Google.

"White Russian" is acceptable only as much as it has been used in that sense for decades. (The author should be aware that in languages the tradition is as valid a rule as the rule proper.)

Much of what the author said is either irrelevant or erroneous.

1. For instance, as regards Russian as "ruski" and "rasiejski", this is simply an example of a bivalent English word which means BOTH and requires a context to become one or the other.

2. The phrase "belarusian language" needs the article "the".

3. The word "rasiejski" is wrongly transliterated. The author, again, obviously does not know the rules. (The same is true of the Web designers who misspelled half the city names.)

Regards,
Alexander Yudin, interpreter and translator with 25 years experience, holder of an Honours Diploma in interpreting and translation from Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, winner of a gold medal from School No. 14 in Grodno in 1977

Well, if Alexander Yudin is right, we should write Belarussian and pronounce [belarashn], according to the English rules. But the pronunciation [belaru:zhn], it seems, is closer to the original one. So, to ‘force’ English speakers to pronounce this word so, we should write Belarusian. Damn, all these things are so difficult! Could anybody who knows English better than me comment this?

3. The word "rasiejski" is wrongly transliterated. The author, again, obviously does not know the rules. (The same is true of the Web designers who misspelled half the city names.)

It is not ‘wrongly transliterated’. It is written in the Belarusian variant of the Latin alphabet. (Belarusians haven’t been using the Cyrillic letters all the time in their history.)

[Susi]

Well I suck with phonetic things... but if you put the "i" in there people will pronounce it as "Russian" I think..

[Whiteruthenian]

Thanks Susi.

It would be unreasonable (and there is no need) to try to teach somebody how he or she should pronounce and write those words in their native language (if they aren’t officials from the UN of course ). Here is just some additional information about some words in the Belarusian language itself:

Biełaruś is ‘she’ in the Belarusian language. It is declined in such a way:

Biełaruś (nominative and vocative)
Biełarusi (genitive)
Biełarusi[ (dative)
Biełaruś (accusative)
Biełaruśsiu/Biełarusiaj (instrumental)
ab Biełarusi (prepositional)

There are no alternative forms in the literary Belarusian language.

It isn’t clear which suffix has to be chosen to create the adjective (-ian or just –an). In the Belarusian language for this purpose the suffix –sk- is used (biełaruski).

The words Ruś (~Ruthenia) and Rasija (Russia) sound and are written differently, but they have the same adjective ruski. There is a tendency last years to use the adjective rasi[e]jski for Rasija to avoid a mess.

[Theobald]

Here we say "biélorusse" or "bélarusse". There are only two spellings. Simpler, isn't it ?

[Susi]

I just say "He comes from Belarus" or "It is from Belarus" to avoid any confusion...

[wilpuri]

We just say "valkovenäläinen" = White Russian.

[Menydh]

Wouldn't that be confused with Tsarists?

[Whiteruthenian]

Originally Posted by wilpuri

We just say "valkovenäläinen" = White Russian.

The main inconvenience with such a translation is that there are as many variants of the word “Belarus” as variants of the word ‘white’ – Baltkrievija, Vitryssland, Weissrussland etc.

Besides, some people here don’t like the idea of being called ‘White Russian’. Personally I think it isn’t the worst variant, but probably it might be offensive for our eastern neighbours – Non-white Russians.

[wilpuri]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Wouldn't that be confused with Tsarists?

Nah, its sometimes confused with a tasty alcoholic beverage, though.

[Austrvegr]

Originally Posted by Whiteruthenian

The main inconvenience with such a translation is that there are as many variants of the word “Belarus” as variants of the word ‘white’ – Baltkrievija, Vitryssland, Weissrussland etc.

Besides, some people here don’t like the idea of being called ‘White Russian’. Personally I think it isn’t the worst variant, but probably it might be offensive for our eastern neighbours – Non-white Russians.

Looks like you've happened to forget that the north-eastern part of Belarus is called Black Russia. That is what White Russia is contradistinguished from.

[svin]

North-eastern? Rather western part of Belarus.

[Austrvegr]

Originally Posted by svin

North-eastern? Rather western part of Belarus.

Yes, it was a mistake. I meant north-western, around Novogrudok, the place where the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was born.

[Whiteruthenian]

Originally Posted by Austrvegr

Looks like you've happened to forget that the north-eastern part of Belarus is called Black Russia. That is what White Russia is contradistinguished from.

Originally Posted by Austrvegr

Yes, it was a mistake. I meant north-western, around Novogrudok, the place where the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was born.

Yes, I know. You are taking it too seriously, Austrvegr. It was just a joke, nothing more. Believe me.

Would you be so kind to write Black Ruthenia, White Ruthenia etc.? ‘Whiteruthenia’ sounds supercool. Much better than ‘WhiteRussia’, and even better than the word ‘Belarus’ itself I must say.