Great Russia

Common card · No. 270385

Great Russia, sometimes Great Rus' (Russian: Великая Русь [vʲɪˈlʲikəjə rusʲ], Velikaya Rus'; Великая Россия, Velikaya Rossiya; Великороссия [vʲɪlʲɪkɐˈrosʲːɪjə], Velikorossiya), is a name formerly applied to the territories of "Russia proper", the land that formed the core of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and later the Tsardom of Russia. This was the land to which the ethnic Russians were native and where the ethnogenesis of (Great) Russians took place. The name is said to have come from the Greek Μεγάλη Ῥωσσία or Ῥωσία (Megálē Rhōssía or Rhōsía). From 1654 to 1721, Russian Tsars adopted the word – their official title included the wording (literal translation): "The Sovereign of all Rus': the Great, the Little, and the White". The term is mentioned in the opening lines of the State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics: "Unbreakable Union of freeborn Republics Great Russia has welded forever to stand!" (or lit. "An unbreakable union of free republics, Great Russia has sealed forever...

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