For a Russian blogger, on the names of countries: Krievija, Ruthenia, Rusia (11.12.2021)

A street debate by Vitaliy Dribnytsia with a Russian-speaking opponent on the fact that the names of states change and that external names do not coincide with a state’s self-designation. One and the same Rus’ was called Ruthenia in Latin (as the Vatican wrote — in particular Innocent IV in his letters to Daniel of Galicia, who was crowned “King of Rus’” in 1253) and Rusia (Ῥωσία) in Greek; in Latvian, Russia is to this day called Krievija — from the Krivichi tribe. As examples of the ordinary changing of states’ names, Dribnytsia cites Italy (which was not called Italy before the Kingdom of Italy) and Romania (which arose from the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia).