A people made up ofScandinavian warrior merchants who travelled Eastern European river-roads from the eighth century, and whose settlements aroundNovgorod,Kiev/Kyiv and theVolga andDnieper/Dnipro gave rise to the Rus' principalities.[from 19th c.]
2009,Diarmaid MacCulloch,A History of Christianity, Penguin, published2010, page504:
In 860 theRus’ streamed southwards and laid siege to Constantinople itself.
Kievan Rus', the medieval East Slavic state established by these same warrior merchants in the 9th century, whose capital was in Kiev.
Any of the medievalEast Slavic principalities ruled by this class, especially Kievan Rus.
This neutral term is used more often instead ofRussia ormedieval Russia, acknowledging that the Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian people share the heritage of Rus.
With this innovation, it is sometimes unclear how to replace the adjectiveRussian in the same context. Alternatives include using the attributive noun, as in “the Rus princes”, or rewriting to use “of Rus”. The nonstandard adjectiveRusian is seen very rarely.
1959, Boris Dmitrievich Grekov,Kiev Rus, Foreign Languages Pub. House, p 244:
And if aRus hits a Greek, or a Greek aRus with a sword, a spear or any other weapon, he shall pay five litres of silver for his offence, in accordance with Rus law; and if he be unable (insolvent—Author) his property shall be sold for the best price it fetches, including the very clothes . . .
1959, Sergeĭ Mikhaĭlovich Solov’ev,History of Russia from the Earliest Times [2000], v 3 (The Shift Northward: Kievan Rus, 1154–1228), p 223:
If a Varangian claimed money from aRus, or aRus from a Varangian, and the debtor refused to pay, the plaintiff, accompanied by twelve witnesses, . . .
1973, Donald W. Treadgold,The West in Russia and China: Religious and Secular Thought in Modern Times, v 1 (Russia, 1472–1917),→ISBN, p xxxv:
The Church of Kievan Rus knew men well-versed in Scripture and apparently other learning of the time, such as the Metropolitans Ioann II (d. 1089) and Klimetn Smoliatich (twelfth century). The former was Greek, and the latter aRus.
“Rus”, inSlovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak),https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk,2003–2025
