English
Rus
Rus comes from German Russe ‘Russian (person)’, and goes back to Proto-Finnic *roocci ‘Swedes’.
- Proto-Finnicprehistoric (reconstructed)*roocci‘Swedes’reconstructed
- Old East SlavicmodernРусьRusĭ
- Germanc. 1650–presentRusse‘Russian (person)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1959Rus
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Finnicprehistoric (reconstructed)*roocci‘Swedes’reconstructed
- Old East SlavicmodernРусьRusĭ
- Germanc. 1650–presentRusse‘Russian (person)’
- Englishearliest quotation 1959Rus
Earliest quotation: 1959, Boris Dmitrievich Grekov, Kiev Rus: “And if a Rus hits a Greek, or a…”
The story
More recent use influenced by Russian Русь (Rusʹ), from Old East Slavic Русь (Rusĭ). Use with macron was probably influenced by the transliteration of Arabic رُوس (rūs). Also compare Swedish Ryss, Dutch Rus, German Russe, French Russe, Byzantine Greek Ῥῶς (Rhôs), Russian Русь (Rusʹ), Belarusian Русь (Rusʹ), Ukrainian Русь (Rusʹ). Also compare Russian ру́сский (rússkij, “Ethnic Russian, of Rus”), россия́нин (rossijánin, “Russian national”), Росси́я (Rossíja, “Russia”).
Every English word from Proto-Finnic *roocci
Today it means
name A people made up of Scandinavian warrior merchants who travelled Eastern European river-roads from the eighth century, and whose settlements around Novgorod, Kiev/Kyiv and the Volga and Dnieper/Dnipro gave rise to the Rus' principalities.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Finnic *roocci / Rus