White Russian language
- noun
- Archaic
:
idioma bielorruso
- Many people in Belarus speak the White Russian language.
Examples
-
Some older texts refer to Belarusian as the White Russian language.
-
The White Russian language is rich in proverbs and folk traditions.
-
He studied the White Russian language at university as part of his degree in Slavic studies.
-
The White Russian language is rich in history.
-
He studied the White Russian language at university as part of his degree in Slavic studies.
-
Some older texts refer to Belarusian as the White Russian language.
-
Many people in Belarus speak the White Russian language.
Synonyms
1
7.2
A Slavic language spoken mainly in Belarus
The language spoken in Belarus
A language spoken mainly in Belarus that uses the Cyrillic alphabet
A language spoken mainly in Belarus
The Belarusian language spoken in Belarus
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase looks like a literal composition of 'white' + 'Russian' + 'language', which a learner would likely interpret as a type or variety of Russian (or language of 'white' Russians) rather than the modern name for the language of Belarus. Understanding that it refers to Belarusian requires specific historical/lexical knowledge (the archaic exonym 'White Russia' / 'Belorussia'), so the meaning is not directly derivable from the constituents for a B1 learner.
Etymology
The name White Russian language comes from old maps and names that called the land White Rus', a name for the area of today's 'Belarus'. So the phrase means the language of that place, now called 'Belarusian'.