Testament to Ruthenian: A Linguistic Analysis of the Smotryc´kyj Variant

What is the Ruthenian language? A simple answer is that it was the precursor to modern Ukrainian and Belarusian. But the history and synchronic realization of this language are much more complex. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ruthenian was the language of the Orthodox and Uniate inhabitants of the Polish—Lithuanian Commonwealth. It enjoyed a culture and prestige greater than that of its Muscovite (Russian) neighbor to the east, but was often denigrated in comparison with th...