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Last week, it considered a request from Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlan Cichanouskaya to establish Belarus as the country’s official name.
In the opinion of the subcommittee, the name Belarus should not be changed, as it is systematically composed of the noun Belarus and its ending is a suffix typical of state names.
“The name Belarus is not acceptable as an option for unsystematic construction,” the VLKK said in a statement.
In the opinion of the majority of the members of the subcommittee, it would be possible to consider changing the names of Belarus and Gudija if necessary. According to them, the names Gudija, gudai, which have a tradition of use, should be supported.
After receiving a letter from S. Chichanouskaja, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis addressed the VLKK in January with the intention of starting a discussion between historians and linguists about changing the country’s name. According to him, such a discussion would be “significant, contributing to the formation of the self-awareness of the Belarusian people.”
In a letter, S. Cichanouskaja asked the minister to change the Lithuanian name of Belarus to a form closer to the country, saying that such a decision by Lithuania would express respect for the sovereignty of the neighboring state and “support the identity of the Belarusian nation.”
Currently, two short (traditional) forms of the Belarusian name are valid in Lithuania: Belarus and Gudia.
At the end of December last year, the name of Georgia was officially changed to Sakartvel, until then, for more than two years, the VLKK allowed the use of this name as an alternative. The name was changed at the request of Sakarvel’s diplomats, arguing that the old name was Russian.
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