User:Teeth-that-gnash/Rough

Crivia or Kryvia (Kryvija, Kryǔja, Крывія, Крыўя, Кривия) is an ethnocultural region inhabited by the descendants of the ancient Crivian (Krivich) tribes. Crivia includes the territories of present-day Vitebsk, Minsk and Mogilev regions of Belarus, as well as Bransk, Tver, Smolensk regions and the southern half of Pskov region of Russia.

Crivian tribes mentioned in several European chronicles of Early and High Middle Ages are of disputable origin. A century-long scientific argument about them being either Balts or East Slavs hasn't ceased to this day (cite ethnogenesis). However, the names Kryvia, Krivich are considered to be of Baltic origin.

Crivia is sometimes equated to Belarus due to the fact that the largest state ever comprised by Crivians was the Principality of Polotsk (9th through 13th centuries) which was mostly situated on, and occupied much of, the territory of present-day Belarus, and also due to the efforts of certain leaders of the 20th century's Belarusian national movement to revive the ethnic name Crivians (Krivichs; kryvičy, крывічы).

Etymology
In English, the derivation Crivia => Crivians (people of Crivia) is obvious, but these two terms are adapted. The name Crivians (Krivichs) has a substantially longer history of use in written sources than the name Crivia (the latter is somewhat 'new' compared to the former). So, especially in the case of Slavic languages, the derivation of the concerned tribal name from the name of the land is not that obvious and has required heavy argumentation in its time.

Today's most reasoned hypothesis concerning the origin of the names Kryvia and Krivichs asserts that they derive from the name of the semi-mythical high priest Kriv (cite toporov) who, to a greater or lesser extent, had religious authority over most of the Baltic peoples (compare the Lithuanian krivis, krivė, krivaitis, Latvian krīvs 'priest', Lithuanian krivūle 'priest's staff with a curved end; symbol of a tribal community united by a religious tradition').(cite druvis)

Linguistically, both the tribal name and the land name derive from the Baltic stem kriev- (kreiv-), which is a variation of the Indo-European root (s)ker- 'to turn, bend, curve'. Words containing this root are extensively present in ancient and contemporary Indo-European languages: the proto-Slavic krivъ 'intricate, unfair, left-hand', Lithuanian kreivas 'crooked, bent', Latvian krievs 'crooked', Sanskritic vakriya 'curved, bent', Latin curvus 'crooked, curved' etc.

The semantic transition crooked => sacred, ritualistic must date as far back as the times of "Indo-European unity". (cite makowski) The examples carrying traces of archaic magical symbolism are well-known: these are the aforementioned krivis and krivūle. The Belarusian word kryvy 'crooked' which is sometimes used in the meaning of 'magical' in folklore can be added here. Another example of the concerned semantic transition is one of the epithets of Greek god Apollo - Loxias 'obscure, crooked; one giving intricate, ambiguous advice and prophecies'.

This transition is characteristic of the whole so called circumbaltic cultural area which includes Baltic, Slavic and Germanic cultures. Here is an example of a principle for designating festive days common for Belarusians, Old Prussians and, what is significant, ancient Indians: compare the Belarusian kryvyja viečary 'magical/crooked evenings', Old Prussian lankinan 'festive' (<= lank- 'to twist, bend') (cite toporov) and ancient Indian parvan 'joint; turning point; festival with sacrifices held at the turns of the lunar calendar' (cite toporova). Another example is the way to signify 'sacrifice' and 'temple/chapel' common for Balts and Germans: compare the Lithuanian alka 'sacrifice, sacrificial altar, idol statue', Latvian alks 'idol statue', Gothic alhs, Old English ealh, Old Saxon alah 'chapel', minding the Indo-European elk-/olk- 'to twist, bend'. (cite sanko)

Thus, it is safe to say that the words Crivia (Kryvia) and Crivians (Krivichs) most probably have sacral, ritualistic etymology.

History of the Name
The name Kryvia, as a reference to Belarus, seems to have been first used in the book "Adventures of Panas and Taras" written in 1912 by Waclaw Lastowski, a Belarusian writer, philologist and politician.

In 1922 it was first purposefully proposed as a substitute for Belarus by Jan Stankiewicz, a Belarusian philologist and historian, friend of Lastowski.

Waclaw Lastowski, as a public figure, was doing his best to popularize Kryvia and Krivichs as the most correct and preferable names for Belarus and Belarusians to his dying day. His ideas met strong opposition in certain political circles, including the Russian-oriented wing of the Belarusian nationalist movement, and later the Moscow-dependent government of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, which is understandable, as Kryvia was a strong name convenient for supporting the individuality of the local people and for establishing independence from any neighbour countries. The political repressions carried out in the pre-war USSR temporarily stopped the development of the Crivian idea. Lastowski was arrested and sent into a 5 years exile in 1931, then arrested for the second time and put to death by shooting in 1938.

After a decade of Soviet repressions, the WWII and German occupation turned up a relief for the nationalist forces of Belarus, as the Soviet rule temporarily disappeared. The most important works of this period concerning Belarus as Crivia are "Belarus - Lithuania - Crivia" by Mikola Szkialonak and "The Course of Crivian (Belarusian) History" by Jan Stankiewicz. From that time on Crivia becomes associated with the idea of the Baltic origin of Belarusians.

As long as the post-war Soviet propaganda predictably labelled everything 'crivian' as 'fascist', all activity of Crivia propagators after WWII was concentrated in emigrant circles. Many periodicals and some NGOs outside Belarus had 'Crivian' in their names. For instance, the Crivian Scientific Society was founded in Germany; it published works concerning Belarusian history and culture.

Following the collapse of the USSR, scientific work in the 'crivian' direction was recommenced in Belarus, as the Center for Ethnocosmology "Kryuja" was created in the early 90-s. The Center is still functioning and carrying on research in the fields of ethnogenesis, ethnolinguistics, ethnopsychology, ethnosemiotics, cultural anthropology, archaeology, cultural topology, paleoastronomy etc.

Today, the nationalist propaganda for the substitution of Crivia for Belarus has somewhat ceased. Crivia is impartially regarded as an ethnocultural region by today's researchers; a region with borders incoincident with the borders of Belarus.