Sweden officially adopts new word for "Belarusians"
The Swedish Academy
has decided to change the Swedish adjective for “Belarusian” to make it closer
to the original pronunciation. At a meeting on September 25, the Academy directed
that the adjective “vitryssar” be scrapped and replaced with “belarusier.”
BelaPAN
The decision is the first step to stop calling Belarus
Vitryssland, which translates word for word as
It was taken in response to a campaign that was
organized by ethnic Belarusians living in
The Academy publishes two dictionaries, with one called Svenska Akademiens
Ordlista (SAOL). It is a single volume that is considered the final arbiter of
Swedish spelling.
BelaPAN