If you don't mind a small set of corrections by a linguist (in the academic sense), it wasn't Old Church Slavonic that was created in Byzantium, but rather the Cyrillic alphabet. The language (sometimes also called Old Bulgarian and Old Church Slavic) is just the earliest recorded identifiable Slavic language. However, there are many other Slavic languages--three main branches: West (Czech, Slovak, Polish etc.), South (Bulgarian, Macedonian, OCS) and East (Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian)
Old Church Slavic became influential because it was used to translate the Bible, and that spread the language far and wide. Pretty much every Slavic language that adopted the Orthodox religion also adapted the Cyrillic writing system to their own language. This includes Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian and many others. And Cyrillic has undergone many modifications within each Slavic language too.
Just as Latin influenced all Western European languages, including those not derived from Vulgar Latin, OCS influenced all Slavic languages, and, not coincidentally, Romanian and Moldovan, which are Romance languages.
As a linguist, can you also confirm my understanding that the designations of Rus' Major and Rus' Minor are by definition relating to their distance from Constantinople and in not in any way to be understood in the context used by Moscow to denigrate Ukrainians as "Little Russians"?
Oy! I've done some preliminary research and it looks like it's a highly contested story that I wouldn't try to definitively rule on without more research than I have time to spend. The Wikipedia entry on Ukraine has one story, but the Wikipedia entry on 'Little Russia' seems to have three or four, all conflicting, and all going back at least 200 years. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Curious that you didn't mention the Ukrainian attempts at independence before, during and after World War II. On the one hand, they are evidence of Ukrainian national consciousness long predating 1991. On the other, Ukraine doesn't really like to bring them up now because of collaboration with the Nazis and atrocities against Poles.
If you don't mind a small set of corrections by a linguist (in the academic sense), it wasn't Old Church Slavonic that was created in Byzantium, but rather the Cyrillic alphabet. The language (sometimes also called Old Bulgarian and Old Church Slavic) is just the earliest recorded identifiable Slavic language. However, there are many other Slavic languages--three main branches: West (Czech, Slovak, Polish etc.), South (Bulgarian, Macedonian, OCS) and East (Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian)
Old Church Slavic became influential because it was used to translate the Bible, and that spread the language far and wide. Pretty much every Slavic language that adopted the Orthodox religion also adapted the Cyrillic writing system to their own language. This includes Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian and many others. And Cyrillic has undergone many modifications within each Slavic language too.
Just as Latin influenced all Western European languages, including those not derived from Vulgar Latin, OCS influenced all Slavic languages, and, not coincidentally, Romanian and Moldovan, which are Romance languages.
As a linguist, can you also confirm my understanding that the designations of Rus' Major and Rus' Minor are by definition relating to their distance from Constantinople and in not in any way to be understood in the context used by Moscow to denigrate Ukrainians as "Little Russians"?
Have to do some research on that. I'll get back to you.
Oy! I've done some preliminary research and it looks like it's a highly contested story that I wouldn't try to definitively rule on without more research than I have time to spend. The Wikipedia entry on Ukraine has one story, but the Wikipedia entry on 'Little Russia' seems to have three or four, all conflicting, and all going back at least 200 years. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Curious that you didn't mention the Ukrainian attempts at independence before, during and after World War II. On the one hand, they are evidence of Ukrainian national consciousness long predating 1991. On the other, Ukraine doesn't really like to bring them up now because of collaboration with the Nazis and atrocities against Poles.
Thank you for the history. It does help to understand.