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Ma³opolska in English?


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Polonius3Threads: 1,005
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 Jul 19, 11, 09:43    #1
I have encountered the folloiwng for Ma³opolska in English texts over the years:
Little Poland, Lesser Poland and Poland Minor. Also left unchanged (Ma³opolska) or with only the the barred £ missing (Malopolska).
Does a single standard contemporary form exist? Which one do you use?
HarryThreads: 62
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 Jul 19, 11, 14:55    #2
It's Ma³opolska round here.
boletusThreads: 47
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 Jul 19, 11, 15:54    #3
Polonius3:
Which one do you use?

Either form is fine so I would not worry about it at all. But the original name for these lands was "Polonia Minor", not "Ma³opolska". The latter version came much later; see below.

translated:

After prof. Stanis³aw Dubisz, "Miêdzy dawnymi a nowymi laty. Eseje o jêzyku", Ksi±¿ka i Wiedza, Warszawa 1988:

Even though the name Polonia officially functioned as the name of the whole country in 10th-11th century, the princes of the statehood cradle (ie, of the lands around Gniezno and Poznañ) continually emphasized their superiority and right to the sovereign power over the all Polish lands. For this purpose they used the name Polonia Maior (Older Poland) or Polonia Magna (Great Polonia).
       As in opposition to the Polonia Maior the name Polonia Minor appeared to designate the lands around Kraków, Sandomierz and Lublin. Once the name "Polska" has become widespread in the 16th century as the permanent name for Poland, the terms Polonia Maior (Polonia Magna) and Polonia Minor have become translated into "Staropolska" ("Wielkopolska") and "Ma³opolska".

http://obcyjezykpolski.interia.pl/?md=archive&id=299

See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Poland
By the way:
translated:
As word "Polanie" began to function, there became a need to name the land where they lived. Therefore, in written Latin documents the following terms appeared:
Poloniae Regio (Province of Polans), Regnum Poloniae (Kingdom of Polans) or Terra Poloniae (Land of Polans), and later - the lone word Polonia. Amazingly, the said name no longer "belonged" to Polans alone - people living in the basin of the Warta River - but also to Wislans, Mazowszans, Kujawians, Pomeranians and ¦lêzans, and thus the new name included the much greater geographic area.

http://obcyjezykpolski.interia.pl/?md=archive&id=299



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