Ruthenian
Americanadjective
noun
-
one of the Ruthenian people.
-
the dialect of Ukrainian spoken in Ruthenia.
-
a member of a former Orthodox religious group that entered into communion with the Roman Catholic Church in 1596 and became the “Uniate Church of the Little Russians.”
adjective
noun
-
a dialect of Ukrainian
-
a native or inhabitant of Ruthenia
Etymology
Origin of Ruthenian
First recorded in 1840–50; Rutheni(a) + -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In its eastern and southeastern regions, the union’s dominant languages were Polish and Ruthenian, the predecessor to modern-day Ukrainian and Belarusian.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2022
Warhol’s parents both spoke Ruthenian, and the artist understood it enough to use it in 1980, when he met Pope John Paul II, who knew the language from his upbringing in southern Poland.
From New York Times ● Oct. 7, 2018
Traditional dress is embroidered with distinctive diamond shapes in earthy tones while their dialect is a swirl of old Ruthenian, Romanian, Magyar, and their own esoteric expressions.
From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2016
The same fate befell 3,500,000 Ruthenian Catholics, now citizens of the U.S.S.R.
From Time Magazine Archive
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We hardly know which we should admire the more, the faithfulness of the simple-minded Ruthenian, or the devotedness of the few missionaries who, for the last fifteen years, have lived, worked and died among them.
From Catholic Problems in Western Canada by George Thomas Daly
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