Rzeczpospolita () is a
Polish word for "
republic" or "
commonwealth", a
calque translation of the
Latin expression
res publica (literally: "public affair").
The word
rzeczpospolita has been used in
Poland since at least 16th century, originally a generic term to denote any state with a
republican or similar form of government. The famous quote by
Jan Zamoyski, Lord Grand Chancellor of the Crown, about the importance of education is an example of this usage:
Today, however, the word is used almost solely in reference to the
Polish State (seldom also to some historical republics such as the
Roman Republic). Any other republic is referred to as
republika in modern Polish.
The official name of the present-day Polish State is
Rzeczpospolita Polska, which is usually translated into English as "Republic of Poland". However, such translation, when talking about the 16–18th century Poland, may be confusing since in those times the
Rzeczpospolita, despite displaying some features of a republic, overall was an
elective monarchy. For that period,
Rzeczpospolita is rendered rather as "Commonwealth" (which is another English version of the Latin
res publica), as in "
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth".
The word
Rzeczpospolita is also used as a name for three periods in
Poland’s history:
- Second Rzeczpospolita – name usually applied to the entire interwar period, from Poland's independence in 1918 until the Invasion of Poland and German-Soviet occupation in 1939, although the renascent Polish State was officially called Republika Polska until the name Rzeczpospolita Polska was introduced by the constitution of 1921 whose first article read: Państwo Polskie jest Rzecząpospolitą ("The Polish State is a Rzeczpospolita");
Leaders of
Law and Justice, the ruling party from 2005 to 2007, have coined the term
Fourth Rzeczpospolita – a new Poland they attempted to create as a replacement for the current, allegedly too corrupt, Third
Rzeczpospolita.
Other expressions and names that employ the term
rzeczpospolita include:
- Rzeczpospolita Babińska – a 16th-century parody of the state, established in the village of Babin, where nobles were given "offices" according to their faults instead of merits;
- Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa or PRL – People's Republic of Poland, name colloquially applied to the whole period of communist rule in Poland, i.e. 1944–1989, although officially used only between 1952 and 1989.
Rzeczpospolita is sometimes abbreviated to
Rzplita.
RP is a common abbreviation for
Rzeczpospolita Polska (Republic of Poland).
The peoples that were once under Polish domination or did neighbour the Polish State have borrowed the word
Rzeczpospolita from the Polish language.
Lithuanian Žečpospolita,
Belarusian Рэч Паспалітая (
Rech Paspalitaya) and
Ukrainian Річ Посполита (
Rich Pospolyta), as well as
Russian Речь Посполитая (
Rech Pospolitaya), are used only to refer to the pre-
partition Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
See also
