# Poland (old name)



## seitt

Greetings,

I'm intrigued by the Persian word for Poland, Lahestān. Turkish formerly used ‘Lehistan’.

Did you have a similar word in Polish? I.e. a word starting with ‘Lech’, perhaps connected with the name Lech e.g. in the name “Lech Wałęsa”?

Best wishes, and many thanks,

Simon


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## LilianaB

As far as I know Poland was never called Lahestan, or anything like tat in Polish. Lakh is apparently a waste field in some Turkic I think languages. Poland comes from pole which is a field, so the meanings are similar. It has nothing to do with Lech Walensa. It is Lenkija in Lihtuanian so it can be somehow connected to Lahestan, although it may not because other etymologies are also possible. There is a word Lengyelorsag in Hungarian: that might be connected with this etymology too. Lech is a legendary name: there was a legend that there were three brothers, Slavic brothers Lech, Rus and Czech and each of them started a separate nation.


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## majlo

The word Poland comes from the name of the tribe that lived in that area: Polanie (Polans), which in turn comes from the word "pole" (a farming field).

As for the word in question, indeed, there were three legendary brothers, and one of them was Lech so maybe Lahestān has something to do with it? Notwithstanding, it certainly doesn't have anything to do with *Lech Walesa*.


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## Lorenc

seitt said:


> I'm intrigued by the Persian word for Poland, Lahestān. Turkish formerly used ‘Lehistan’.
> Did you have a similar word in Polish?



It's Lechia: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lechia and http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymologia_nazwy_Polska


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## BezierCurve

There is a faint trace of it, in our saying "strachy na Lachy". "Lachy" was a term used for Poles by our eastern neighbours. As for the link above, Im not sure if "Lenkija" and "Lengyelorszag" originated from the same stem, or was that something else (for example the tribe of "Lędzianie"/"Ledzianie")...


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## LilianaB

I am not sure, but lenkti  in Lithuanian means to bend, to tighten a bow, to make a curve. This might be somehow the etymology of the word, otherwise it could come from lendziai, the Lendian trible, an old Slavic tribe. It can also come from ledynas in Lithuanian - an ice field or a glacier.


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## Ben Jamin

From Wikipedia:
_Max Vasmer reconstructs the original ethnonym as lęděninŭ, deriving it from the Slavic word for "fallow, wasteland", which is cognate to English "land".[1] In this context, lęděninŭ means "a settler of barren lands", referring to the lands vacated by some earlier population, either the Vandals or the Goths._
_That the Lendians occupied a considerable territory is evident from the fact their name gave rise to the name for the Poles in a number of languages. From later forms Lęchy:_
_East Slavic: Lyakh (also transliterated as Lach and Ljach)
Old Norse: Laesir; see Heimskringla (also transliterated as Laesar and Ljachar)[2]
Lithuanian : Lenkas
Romanian (now dated) : Leah
Byzantine Greek: Lechoi and Lendzeninoi (Λενζενίνοις)_
_Directly from Lędzianie, Lendzianie, Lędzice
__Hungarian: Lendiel, Lengyel_
_South Slavic: Ledianin_
Attempts to derive the name Lędzianie from Lithuanian has not got much sense.


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## LilianaB

Not the name Ledzianie but the name lenkas. Lenkija does not have to come from Ledzianie. Lenkas means Poles in Lithuanian not Ledzianie.


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## Ben Jamin

LilianaB said:


> Not the name Ledzianie but the name lenkas. Lenkija does not have to come from Ledzianie. Lenkas means Poles in Lithuanian not Ledzwianie.



It is OK, but one could understand your post that way.


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## marco_2

Sometimes it happens that the name of one peripheral tribe can be used by its neighbours as a name of the whole nation, cf. the Germanic tribe _Alemanni, _whose name came to signify all Germans in some Romanic languages (Allemagne, Alemania, Alemanha). The same was with _Lędzianie._


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## Ben Jamin

marco_2 said:


> Sometimes it happens that the name of one peripheral tribe can be used by its neighbours as a name of the whole nation, cf. the Germanic tribe _Alemanni, _whose name came to signify all Germans in some Romanic languages (Allemagne, Alemania, Alemanha). The same was with _Lędzianie._



I could agree with you if by “periferal” you mean “living closest to the neighbours that take this name in use”, not “of little importance”. Lędzianie were quite a large and important tribe.


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## LilianaB

Were they a different tribe from Polanie, or this was just a different name that some, for example the Romans, referred to Polanie or even to all tribes that later formed the Kingdom of Poland?


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## Ben Jamin

LilianaB said:


> Were they a different tribe from Polanie, or this was just a different name that some, for example the Romans, referred to Polanie or even to all tribes that later formed the Kingdom of Poland?


There is an article at Wikipedia, both English and Polish, with a map. Polanie lived in Greater Poland (Wielkopolska), Ledzianie around Lublin and Lwow.


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## LilianaB

Thank you. Do you think, however that this name could have been used in reference to all tribes that later formed the Kingdom of Poland, by some historians from other lands. When they talked about Ledzanai, did they have in mind only this  tribe?


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## Thomas1

> Lach, nazwa ruska 'Polaka'; Podlasze, dziś Podlasie, 'kraj przy Lachu'; prastary przymiotnik ljad-skij, nie ljasz-skij, dowodzi, że nazwa od ljad- wyszła. Ruskie ja poszło z nosowego ę, i tak je Węgrzy i Litwini od Rusi w 9. i 10. wieku przejęli, węg. Lengyen niegdyś, dziś Lengyel (z Lędne praruskiego ?), lit . Lenkas; forma lach (lęch) jest zgrubiałą, jak Moch z Moskal, brach z brat, Stach, Wach. Twierdzą, że w lęch tkwi nazwa lędy, 'pola pod zasiew rzygotowanego' (rus. lado), ależ to żadna osobliwsza cecha; może raczej przezwisko od lędźwi (p.); ruskie ljad 'djabła' oznacza (idi k ljadu, 'do czarta'), lecz wiek tegoż nie da się stwierdzić. Lachami nazywają górale polscy 'Polaków z równiny', ale samo _a_ dowodzi ich pożyczki ruskiej; wszelkie zaś próby wywodzenia Lacha od Polacha (Polanina), rozbijają się o ów stały przymiotnik z _d_ i o owo _ę_; Lingones, u Tomasza Kroata w 13. wieku, są tylko z węgierska nazwani 'Polacy'. U Serbów Ledjanin, krat ledjaẁski (o Warneńczyku), swem _d_ uderza, zresztą nazwy z ch, u Turków Lechistan. Lech na początku czeskiej kroniki rymowanej (około r. 1310) jest już wymysłem, z Polski przejętym, gdzie go do Czecha dorobiono, jak i Lechitów (wedle Lacha) mistrz Wincenty około r. 1200 dorobił; Gall (r. 1113) nie znał wcale takiej nazwy.
> Brückner, A., _Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego_, Wiedza Powszechna, 1985


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