Old East Slavic - Terminology

Terminology

Scientists from each three East Slavic countries tend to treat Old East Slavic as the straight predecessor of their own language, so they name it accordingly.

• In Belarus: “Old Belarusian Language” (Belarusian: старажытнабеларуская мова, starazhytnabelaruskaya mova)
• In Russia: “Old Russian Language” (Russian: древнерусский язык, drevnerusskiy yazyk)
• In Ukraine: “Old Ukrainian Language” (Ukrainian: давньоукраїнська мова, davn’oukrains’ka mova) or “Old Kyivan Language” (Ukrainian: давньокиївська мова, davn’okyivs’ka mova)

In Belarusian and Ukrainian there are also more neutral supranational terms which can be roughly translated to English as “Old Rus’ian language” (Belarusian: старажытнаруская мова, starazhytnaruskaya mova, Ukrainian: давньоруська мова, davn’orus’ka mova). The Russian drevnerusskiy yazyk means Old Rus’ian as well.