Difference between Russian and Russian.

The concepts "Russian" and "Russian" are very close. What do they mean? How does a Russian differ from a Russian?

Who is Russian?

The concept " Russian", despite the seeming obviousness of the meaning that should correspond to it, is one of the most difficult to understand even in the scientific environment. There are several main interpretations of it:

1. Russian as a designation of a person who belongs to the most numerous people of the Russian Federation, a state-forming nation;
2. Russian as a designation of a person of any nationality from those who live on the territory of the Russian Federation;
3. the concept of "Russian" as a criterion for the civilizational identification of a person.

Let us study the features of these interpretations of the concept in question in more detail.

So, the Russian may be and, in fact, is the largest Slavic ethnos, which constitutes the bulk of the population of Russia, a significant part of the population of Russia, a significant part of the population of Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, many other post-Soviet states, as well as territories that were part of the Russian Empire (for example, Alaska), and non-CIS countries - the USA, Germany.

Russians as an ethnos, in accordance with the traditional point of view, began to form around the 9-10th century - during the times of Kievan Rus. Before that - again, if you follow the widespread interpretation, the future people were represented by several, mainly Slavic (but not only), ethnic groups living in the same territory - roughly corresponding to the central and western regions of the European part of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. These nationalities united under the rule of statehood, which arose among the Russians in the specified period of time. They had a common language, a single culture began to take shape.

It should be noted that the origin of the word "Russian" is very controversial. There is a version that this word is of Scandinavian origin. Some scholars believe that "Russian" is the self-name of the people, others that it was given by other nations. For many centuries, there was a difference even in the pronunciation of this word (if you study its transcription in various sources).

One way or another, it was after the 10th century that the concept of "Russian" as a whole was established as corresponding to the ethnos. He spoke, of course, in Russian (which, however, was represented by a large number of dialects - on the basis of which modern East Slavic languages ​​were later formed).

Around the 15th century, the concept of "Russian" began to be used quite regularly in the context of political self-identification. It could be relevant, in principle, for any person who lived on the territory of the country, at that time built mainly by ethnic Russians - the Moscow state, or the Russian kingdom. This is due to several reasons:

1. the liberation of Russian territories from Mongol dependence, the unification of territories around Moscow and the formation of the Russian kingdom;
2. the beginning of the formation of the largest European nations - the French, Italians, Scandinavian peoples, German-speaking nations - which contributed to similar processes on the territory of the Moscow state.

The peoples of the Russian kingdom thus began to identify themselves as "Russians" - not only in ethnic meaning, but also in political meaning.

The concept of "Russian" is sometimes used in a civilizational context. It presupposes a person's identification of himself not so much as belonging to Russia, but as having closeness to Russian culture, history, and traditions. However, he may not know the Russian language.

It is noteworthy that these interpretations of the concept of "Russian", in principle, do not contradict each other. A person can simultaneously be Russian civilizationally, in a political context and ethnically. But his identification is not excluded only according to one of the criteria under consideration - and this will be enough for naming a person Russian.

Who is a Russian?

The concept “ Russian ” is most often identified with “Russian” in the second meaning from those we have considered above. That is, as a criterion for the political identification of a person. A Russian is, first of all, a citizen of the Russian state. He may represent a non-Slavic nation, be a person of a different culture and not have a good command of the Russian language, but have a country passport - if we talk about the use of the concept of "Russian" in the modern Russian Federation, have civil rights and obligations.

There is a point of view according to which the word "Russian" appeared at about the same time when the Russian kingdom began to be called mainly Russia - that is, based on the Greek pronunciation of the name of the country. This happened around the 16th century. Thus, the word "Russian" has been used for some time as a synonym for "Russian" in a political sense, and later began to be used more often in the appropriate context.

Comparison

The main difference between a Russian and a Russian is that the first concept designates an ethnic group of people, acts as a criterion of political or civilizational identification. The word "Russian" mainly meets the criterion of only political identification. In an ethnic or civilizational context, it sounds much less common.

It can be noted that in modern Russia the concept of "Russian" is used almost always as a criterion for political identification. Russians are citizens of the Russian Federation, regardless of nationality and preferences in approaching any civilization. Russians today are a nation, less often a community, to which a person refers himself within the framework of political and civilizational identification.

Having determined what is the difference between a Russian and a Russian, we will fix the conclusions in the table.

Table