Little Russia

English

Proper noun

Little Russia

1. (historical) The territory of the former Russian Empire inhabited by Ukrainians, approximately corresponding to modern central and eastern Ukraine.
   • 1928, Nicolai Gogol, translated by Constance Garnett, Old-world Landowners:

     I am very fond of the modest manner of life of those solitary owners of remote villages, who in Little Russia are commonly called ‘old-fashioned’ […].

2. (historical) The former Imperial Russian administrative subdivisions in north central Ukraine.

Usage notes

• The term reflects the former status of Ukraine and Ukrainians in the Russian Empire, and went out of general use after the Russian Revolution of 1917. It is an anachronism, if not used in a historical context, and can be offensive to Ukrainians.

Related terms

• Ruthenia

Translations

a historical area

• Belarusian: Мала́я Русь f (Malája Rusʹ), Мала́я Расі́я f (Malája Rasíja), Маларо́сія f (Malarósija)
• Bulgarian: Малору́сия f (Malorúsija)
• Danish: Lillerusland
• Dutch: Klein-Rusland
• Finnish: Vähä-Venäjä (fi)
• French: Petite Russie (fr) f
• Georgian: მალოროსია (malorosia)
• German: Kleinrussland n
• Greek: Μικρορωσία f (Mikrorosía)

  Ancient: Μικρά Ῥωσία f (Mikrá Rhōsía)

• Icelandic: Litla-Rússland n
• Latvian: Mazkrievija f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Lillerussland

  Nynorsk: Vesle-Russland

• Polish: Małoruś f, Małorosja f
• Romanian: Mica Rusie f
• Russian: Ма́лая Русь f (Málaja Rusʹ), Ма́лая Росси́я f (Málaja Rossíja), Малоро́ссия (ru) f (Maloróssija), Малору́ссия f (Malorússija) (less common)
• Spanish: Rusia Menor f
• Swedish: Lillryssland
• Ukrainian: Мала́ Русь f (Malá Rusʹ), Мала́ Росі́я f (Malá Rosíja), Малоро́сія f (Malorósija)
• Vietnamese: Tiểu Nga

References

• Magocsi, Paul Robert (1986). Ukraine: A Historical Atlas. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. →ISBN.

Noun

Little Russia (plural Little Russias)

1. An ethnic enclave populated primarily by Russians or people of Russian ancestry.
   • 1925, Ruth Clouse, “First Affirmative”, in Edith M. Phelps, editor, University Debaters' Annual, volume 11, →OCLC, page 288:

     We find that they settle in Little Italies and Little Russias, and instead of accepting the ideals of the country to which they have fled, they propagate their own traditions.

   • 2019 April 24, Natalie K. Zelensky, Performing Tsarist Russia in New York: Music, Émigrés, and the American Imagination (Russian Music Studies), Indiana University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 30:

     The support system offered by the Relief Society was the initial draw for the émigrés to Harlem and helped establish a Little Russia in the neighborhood.