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Is it THE Ukraine, or Ukraine ? It Depends [1]

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Date: 2023-05-20

Girl in Ukrainian Folk Costume

In my last article, I inadvertently wrote “the Ukraine” instead of “Ukraine.” A couple of sharp eyed readers called me on the carpet. Embarrassed, I dropped the “The.” But, it turns out that I may have been right after all. www.dailykos.com/...(originally appeared 6th ¶ 1st line: “lines attacking the Ukraine & the US for these two events”)

The proper way of referring to Ukraine before 1991 was “The Ukraine.” When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, Ukraine declared independence. They decided to name their new country Ukraine, as stated in their new constitution.

Why ? Ukraine wanted to be like most countries in the world, i.e. without a “The” before their name. The change wasn’t from any rational understanding of regions, lands, people, nations, etc. It was simply because The Ukraine declared the name of their new country was Ukraine, and most of the world went along with their wishes.

The style books were changed, crossing out “the” in “the Ukraine.” But, it still took a while to change the long custom of referring to Ukraine with a definite article, and people were still using the old reference for at least the next 20 years. www.businessinsider.com/…

As for me, I will be writing “Ukraine,” unless I make another boneheaded mistake and forget to delete the The. (I’m actually glad I made this mistake. It led to a fascinating discussion, and to this article.)

By way of an example of this question, The United States is never referred to as just “United States.” It is also referred to as America, but never as “The America.” But when referring to the Western Hemisphere, the term “The Americas” is used, and not “Americas.”



Go Figure.

You can find more information on the question of Ukraine’s name at Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/..., which has a long and detailed history of the name of Ukraine. The BBC also has a nice, and more readable article. www.bbc.com/...

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/20/2169987/-Is-it-THE-Ukraine-or-Ukraine-It-Depends

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