Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia

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The word Rus' referred initially to a group of Scandinavian Vikings, also known as Varangians, who founded the medieval state of Kievan Rus' in Eastern Europe in the 10th century. The term gradually acquired the meaning of the aforementioned dynastic polity itself, and also the geographic region of its heartlands Kiev, Pereiaslavl' and Chernihiv.^[1] Russia is a Hellenized rendition of the same word, and Ruthenia is its Latinized form.

Following the decline of Kievan Rus' in the 12th century, its territory fragmented into multiple polities. The northeastern principality of Vladimir-Suzdal played a crucial role in the eventual rise of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which, by the 14th to 16th centuries, had consolidated power over most of northeastern Rus'. The name Russia began to appear in official documents during this time, alongside the older term Rus'. By the 15th century, Muscovite rulers adopted the title "Grand Prince of all Rus'," signaling their claim over the legacy of Kievan Rus'. The term Russia gradually replaced Rus', and by the 16th century, under Ivan IV, the state officially became the Tsardom of Russia. Despite this, the term Muscovy persisted in Europe, especially in Latin Catholic regions, but Russia was increasingly recognized across Northern Europe and the courts of the Holy Roman Empire.

The name Ruthenia originated as a Latinized form of Rus' and was commonly used in Western European documents to refer to the eastern Slavic lands during medieval times. Over time, the name became more localized, especially after the 19th century, to refer to Carpathian Ruthenia—a region in the northeastern Carpathian Mountains inhabited by Slavs with a Rusyn identity.

Initially, the ecclesiastical title "Metropolitan of Kiev and all Rus'” was used for the head of the church based in Kiev until the metropolitan see moved to Moscow in the 14th century, where it became "Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'” with the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church. In contrast, the southwestern regions of former Kievan Rus' adopted the title "Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Ruthenia", while modern Ukrainian Orthodox churches have shifted to using titles reflecting "Ukraine" instead of "Rus'."