# They don't look so "white"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-look-so-white/18940>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 8, 2000, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-look-so-white/18940 "2000-05-08T18:43:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2000, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-look-so-white/18940/1 "2000-05-08T18:43:55Z")

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Belarussians, that is.

What is so “white” about Belarus aka “White Russia?”

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2000, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-look-so-white/18940/2 "2000-05-08T19:12:38Z")

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I haven’t found the “why” yet, but here is some info on the “how.” The current name Belarus is variant on the earlier Byelorus which literally meant “white russia.”

[http://www.britannica.com/bcom/magazine/article/0,5744,15480,00.html](http://www.britannica.com/bcom/magazine/article/0,5744,15480,00.html)

> [@](#):
>
> _By Bely, Alexander_
> 
> Magazine: HISTORY TODAY, April 1997
> 
> Section: CROSS CURRENT
> 
> ```
> BELARUS: A REAL OR FICTITIOUS NATION?
> 
> ```
> 
> For most of their history, the Belarusian lands had no other collective name than Litva (Lithuania). The itinerant name White Russia was coined in medieval literature in  
> German (Weissrussland) and Latin (Russia alba) and was applied by Western scholars to include north-west Russia adjacent to Finland and Karelia, to the Black Sea northern  
> littoral. Only in the late sixteenth century did it become associated with the north-east of today’s Belarus and its Slavonic population – the would-be Belarusians. In the  
> seventeenth century, Tsarist propaganda actively promoted the use of this name to substantiate claims on `old Russian heritage'. When, after the three partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Tsars consolidated their position in Belarus, they tried to erase any token of distinction from people's consciousness, officially renaming the area `north-west province’.

This U.S. Government publication notes that “a number” of explanations have been put forth for “white,” implying that no one really knows.  
[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cstdy:1:./temp/~frd\_POfX::](http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?cstdy:1:./temp/~frd_POfX::)

Another source of Belarusan/Belarusian (different political parties prefer different versions) information is:  
[http://www.friends-partners.org/~kasaty/miscellany.html](http://www.friends-partners.org/~kasaty/miscellany.html)

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**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2000, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-dont-look-so-white/18940/3 "2000-05-08T19:14:18Z")

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At one site, “[Cultural and Educational Profile of Belarus - Introduction (©Tatiana Usova)](http://www.simmons.edu/~usova/belarus/introduction.html)”, they explain it like this:

> [@](#):
>
> Literal translation of the name Belarus is White Russia. Why White? There are a few variants of the origin of this name. Here are two of them.  
> Firstly, the white clothes of the ancient villagers, their fair hair, and the whiteness of their skin.  
> Secondly, and in no way contradictory to the first, when our ancient Slav lands were invaded by Tatars and Mongols, we alone were able to keep them at bay. Our ancestors repulsed the enemy. For this reason this land is called “white”, meaning that part of Russia clear of the Tatar invasion.