Editing Ruthenian language (section)

===Names in modern use=== 
[[File:Rus-1389-lg.png|thumb|280px|East Slavic languages in 1389. Colors represent spoken dialects. Dashed lines represent written languages: Ruthenian in green, Old/Middle Russian in orange, Old Novgorodian in blue.]]

Modern names of this language and its varieties, that are used by scholars (mainly linguists), can also be divided in two basic categories, the first including those that are derived from [[endonym]]ic (native) names, and the second encompassing those that are derived from [[exonym]]ic (foreign) names.

Names derived from endonymic terms:

* One "s" terms: ''Rus’ian'', ''Rusian'', ''Rusky'' or ''Ruski'', employed explicitly with only one letter "s" in order to distinguish this name from terms that are designating modern [[Russian language|Russian]].{{sfn|Danylenko|2006b|p=98-100, 103–104}}
* ''West Russian'' language or dialect ({{langx|ru|западнорусский язык}}, западнорусское наречие)<ref name="ivanov">''[[Vyacheslav Ivanov (philologist)|Ivanov, Vyacheslav.]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20150318221708/http://kogni.narod.ru/gediminas.htm Славянские диалекты в соотношении с другими языками Великого княжества Литовского (Slavic dialects in relation to other languages of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania)] // Slavic studies. The 13th International Congress of Slavists. Ljubljana, 2003. Reports of the Russian delegation. Indrik Publishing. Moscow, 2003.</ref> – terms used mainly by supporters of the concept of the Proto-Russian phase, especially since the end of the 19th century. Employed by authors such as [[Yefim Karskiy|Karskiy]] and [[Aleksey Shakhmatov|Shakhmatov]].{{sfn|Danylenko|2006b|p=100, 102}}
* ''Old Belarusian'' language ({{Langx|be|Старабеларуская мова}}) – term used by various Belarusian and some Russian scholars, and also by [[Juraj Križanić|Kryzhanich]]. The denotation ''Belarusian'' (language) ({{langx|ru|белорусский (язык)}}) when referring ''both'' to the post-19th-century language and to the older language had been used in works of the 19th-century Russian researchers [[Fyodor Buslayev]], Ogonovskiy, Zhitetskiy, Sobolevskiy, Nedeshev, Vladimirov and Belarusian researchers, such as [[Yefim Karskiy|Karskiy]].{{sfn|Waring|1980|p=129-147}}
* ''Old Ukrainian'' language ({{Langx|uk| Староукраїнська мова}}) – term used by various Ukrainian and some other scholars.
* ''Lithuanian-Russian'' language ({{langx|ru|литовско-русский язык}}) – regionally oriented designation, used by some 19th-century Russian researchers such as: Keppen, archbishop Filaret, Sakharov, Karatayev.
* ''Lithuanian-Slavic'' language ({{langx|ru|литово-славянский язык}}) – another regionally oriented designation, used by 19th-century Russian researcher [[Baranovskiy]].<ref>Cited in Улащик Н. Введение в белорусско-литовское летописание. — М., 1980.</ref>
* ''Chancery Slavonic'', or ''Chancery Slavic'' – a term used for the written form, based on [[Old Church Slavonic]], but influenced by various local dialects and used in the [[Chancery (medieval office)|chancery]] of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]].{{sfn|Danylenko|2006a|p=80-115}}<ref>Elana Goldberg Shohamy and Monica Barni, ''Linguistic Landscape in the City'' (Multilingual Matters, 2010: {{ISBN|1847692974}}), p. 139: "[The Grand Duchy of Lithuania] adopted as its official language the literary version of Ruthenian, written in Cyrillic and also known as Chancery Slavonic"; Virgil Krapauskas, ''Nationalism and Historiography: The Case of Nineteenth-Century Lithuanian Historicism'' (East European Monographs, 2000: {{ISBN|0880334576}}), p. 26: "By the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Chancery Slavonic dominated the written state language in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania"; Timothy Snyder, ''The Reconstruction Of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569–1999'' (Yale University Press, 2004: {{ISBN|030010586X}}), p. 18: "Local recensions of Church Slavonic, introduced by Orthodox churchmen from more southerly lands, provided the basis for Chancery Slavonic, the court language of the Grand Duchy."</ref>

Names derived from exonymic terms:

* ''Ruthenian'' or ''Ruthene'' language – modern scholarly terms, derived from older Latin exonyms ({{langx|la|lingua ruthenica}}, ''lingua ruthena''), commonly used by scholars who are writing in English and other western languages, and also by various Lithuanian and Polish scholars.{{sfn|Danylenko|2006a|p=82-83}}{{sfn|Danylenko|2006b|p=101-102}} 
* ''Ruthenian literary language'', or ''Literary Ruthenian language'' – terms used by the same groups of scholars in order to designate more precisely the [[Literary language|literary]] variety of this language.{{sfn|Bunčić|2015|p=276-289}}
* ''Ruthenian chancery language'', or ''Chancery Ruthenian language'' – terms used by the same groups of scholars in order to designate more precisely the [[Chancery (medieval office)|chancery]] variety of this language, used in official and legal documents of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.{{sfn|Shevelov|1979|p=577}}
* ''Ruthenian common language'', or ''Common Ruthenian language'' – terms used by the same groups of scholars in order to designate more precisely the [[vernacular]] variety of this language.{{sfn|Pugh|1996|p=31}} 
* ''North Ruthenian'' dialect or language – a term used by some scholars as designation for northern varieties, that gave rise to modern [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] language,{{sfn|Borzecki|1996|p=23}} that is also designated as ''White Ruthenian''.{{sfn|Borzecki|1996|p=40}} 
* ''South Ruthenian'' dialect or language – a term used by some scholars as designation for southern varieties, that gave rise to modern [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] language,{{sfn|Brock|1972|p=166-171}}{{sfn|Struminskyj|1984|p=33}} that is also designated as ''Red Ruthenian''.

Terminological [[dichotomy]], embodied in parallel uses of various endoymic and exonymic terms, resulted in a vast variety of ambiguous, overlapping or even contrary meanings, that were applied to particular terms by different scholars. That complex situation is addressed by most English and other western scholars by preferring the exonymic ''Ruthenian'' designations.{{sfn|Leeming|1974|p=126}}{{sfn|Danylenko|2006a|p=82-83, 110}}{{sfn|Danylenko|2006b|p=101-102}}