Etymology[edit | edit wiki text]
Most likely, the city's name comes from the river Me (Menka), which was a tributary of the Ptich. The hydronym Me can be explained from Indo-European *men- "small", compare ancient mini, proto-Slavic *mьnjes - "less"[5], Lithuanian menka - "small, small"[6]. The exact language affiliation root difficult to determine the root men- (man) is recorded not only in Indo-European languages, but in the Finno-Ugric, for example, Mansi Magno - "little river" (man - "small, small", I - "river")[7]. Ancient variants of the name - "Minsky", "Menesk", "Mensk" met in the annals of[8]. In later sources the city's name was written without Yat - Minsk", "Menesk", "Mensk"[9].
At the end of the XVI century there were single[10] use of in the old Belarusian language forms "Minsk", further increasing as a result of Polonization percentage use forms of "Minsk-Minsk" has increased (2nd half of the XVII century), however, has not ceased to be used and "Mensk". Form "Mensk" disappeared from official documents only in the XVIII century, when the old Belarusian written language was completely excluded from official use and disappeared[10].
Since 1502, "Minsk" was used in Latin and Polish documents ("Minsk", "Mińsk"). This transformation of the city name in the Polish language was influenced by Polish mińsk Mazowiecki[9] or as a result of the influence of the Ukrainian language[11]. At the end of the XVIII century, after the partitions of Poland, the writing of "Minsk" staged a strong rally in the Russian-language documents[12] as a mechanical translation of the Polish form of "Mińsk"[13].
Spelling and literary norm in the Belarusian language were formed only in the late nineteenth century[14][15][16], that had an impact on the formalization of the name of the city: it was by this time not established. Oral intake form "Mensk" continues to be recorded, the latter noted the Belarusian ethnographer Paul Shpilevsky and Geographical dictionary of the Polish Kingdom (1885). Also Shpilevsky published a legend about the origin of the name of Minsk. According to this legend, the founder of Minsk was Menesk. Since 1916 in the environment of the Belarusian intelligentsia established name Mensk, Belarus (Belor. Mensk, Belarus). It remained in German and Polish occupation, was used in the documents of the Belarusian emigration[13].
During the BSSR name "Mensk" for a while again became normative and universally[10] was used in official documents in the Belarusian language until 29 July 1939, when the Supreme Council of the BSSR its decree changed the name of the city "Minsk"[17]. This renaming, according to the Belarusian historian H., sibeko was caused by the strengthening of the Stalinist repression of the national staff of the Republic[13]. According to the Belarusian historian Century Lyakhovsky, renaming was the consolidation of Russification in the BSSR on the level of city names[18].
Since that time, the form of "Minsk" is in the Belarusian language normative name of the city. However, some of the media, authors and Internet projects using the pre-reform tarashkevitsu (for example, Radio "Liberty", the journal ARCHE, puchatek and others) in respect of modern Minsk, as well as historical print editions (including official, for example, book publishers "Belarusian encyclopedia", "BelTA" and others) in respect of the period in the history of the city until 1793, use the form "Mensk".
In 1991, the Minsk city Council of deputies appealed to the Supreme Council request the city to return the original form of the name "Mensk", but the request was rejected[19]. For the return of the name "Mensk" voted 142 MP when needed 173[20].
In the Polish language has historically been used the name of the Polish. Mińsk Litewski (Minsk, Belarus-Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), and later Polish. Mińsk Białoruski (Minsk-Belarus), to distinguish between Minsk with a small town in Poland Minsk Mazowiecki. Now the word "Mińsk" almost always refers to the Belarusian capital, rather than the administrative center Minskogo County in Mazovia, which is usually used with the specification of the Polish. Mińsk Mazowiecki.