Rzeczpospolita is a traditional and official name of the Polish State. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin res publica, i.e. republic, in English also rendered as :wikt:commonwealth|commonwealth. In Poland, the wordRzeczpospolita is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while any other republic is referred to in Polish as a republika, e.g., Italian Republic — Republika Włoska.
Origins
The term rzeczpospolita has been used in Poland since the beginning of the 16th century. Originally it was a generic term to denote a state or a commonness. The famous quote by Jan Zamoyski, the Lord Chancellor of the Crown, on the importance of education, is an example of its use: The meaning of rzeczpospolita is well described by the term commonwealth. As a result, the literal meaning of Rzeczpospolita Polska is "Polish Commonwealth", or "Republic of Poland". However, the connotation with the term republic may be somewhat misleading in the context of the Polish State within the period of the 16th to the 18th century, because Poland in that time was an elective monarchy and the rzeczpospolita was reflected in the official name, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The three ''Rzeczpospolite''
Rzeczpospolita is also used in a series of symbolic names referring to three periods in the History of Poland:
I Rzeczpospolita, in reference to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this period, the commonwealth was ruled de facto by a privileged class called the szlachta, which had the right to elect both the king and parliament. It began with the Union of Lublin in 1569 and ended with the third and final Partition of Poland in 1795. Sometimes term I Rzeczpospolita is used in reference to Polish country before Union of Lublin too, because szlachta ruled in Poland earlier;
II Rzeczpospolita, in reference to the Second Polish Republic. Used to refer to the interwar period, lasting from the gaining of independence in 1918 following the end of World War I up to the World War II-triggering Invasion of Poland by both Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. The renascent Polish State was initially called the Republic of Poland. The title Rzeczpospolita was introduced by the March Constitution of Poland, the first article of which stated that Państwo Polskie jest Rzecząpospolitą, meaning "the Polish State is a Commonwealth";
III Rzeczpospolita, in reference to the current Third Polish Republic. This is the title of the current Polish State, dating from the overthrow of the Communist government in 1989.
Other usage
Expressions that make use the concept of rzeczpospolita include:
Rzeczpospolita szlachecka – Republic of Nobles, another name for the I Rzeczpospolita;
Rzeczpospolita Zakopiańska – Republic of Zakopane, a short-lasting form of an independent state, established for about a month in October 1918;
Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa – People's Republic of Poland, a name used formally from 1952 to 1990. Was often abbreviated to simply "Rzeczpospolita Polska" or "PRL". Sometimes referenced to the post-war period 1944–1952;
Nowadays, the terms Rzeczpospolita and Rzeczpospolita Polska are used interchangeably, so far as they relate to the Polish State by default. Before 1939, Rzeczpospolita was sometimes abbreviated to Rzplita in written documents, while RP is still a common abbreviation for Rzeczpospolita Polska. While Lithuanian wordŽečpospolita is a direct borrowing from Polish, Rječ Pospolitaja, Rič Pospolyta and Reč Paspalitaja are like in Polish literal translations from Latin. All of them refer to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
