Great Russia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Russia (disambiguation).
Great Russia (Russian: Великороссия, Velikorossiya) is the obsolete name formerly applied to the territories of what was "Russia proper", the land that formed the core of Muscovy and, later, Russia. The name is equivalent to the Greek Makra Rosia (Μακρά Ρωσία) used by Byzantines for the northern part of the lands of Rus'. The term was adopted from the Byzantine chancellory by the Russian Tsars and Emperors, whose official title included the wording (literal translation): "The Sovereign of all Rus': the Great, the Little, and the White".
Similarly, the terms Great Russian language (Великорусский язык, Velikorusskiy yazyk) and Great Russians (Великороссы, Velikorossy), have mostly fallen out of use.
