Ruthenian

American  

[roo-thee-nee-uhn, -theen-yuhn] / ruˈθi ni ən, -ˈθin yən /

adjective

1. Also Ruthene of or relating to the inhabitants of Ruthenia, Galicia, and neighboring regions.

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noun

1. one of the Ruthenian people.

2. the dialect of Ukrainian spoken in Ruthenia.

3. 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.”

Ruthenian British  

/ ruːˈθiːnɪən /

adjective

1. of or relating to Ruthenia, its people, or their dialect of Ukrainian

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noun

1. a dialect of Ukrainian

2. a native or inhabitant of Ruthenia

Etymology

Origin of Ruthenian

First recorded in 1840–50; Rutheni(a) + -an

Example Sentences

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

Although Ruthenians outside the U.S. are permitted to ordain married men as priests, Elko ignored clerics' complaints and stuck to the letter of a papal decree imposing celibacy on American Ruthenian priests.

From Time Magazine Archive

We all know what difficulties the Ruthenian Bishop had to face during this trying period, under what dark clouds of ungrounded suspicion he lived.

From Catholic Problems in Western Canada by Daly, George Thomas