Editing Voivodeships of Poland (section)

== Etymology and use ==
Some English-language sources, in historical contexts, speak of "[[count palatine|palatinate]]s" rather than "voivodeships". The term "[[wikt:palatinate|palatinate]]" traces back to the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|palatinus}}, which traces back to ''palatium'' ("palace").

More commonly used now is ''province'' or ''voivodeship''. The latter is a [[loanword]]-[[calque]] [[hybrid word|hybrid]] formed on the Polish "{{lang|pl|województwo}}".

Some writers argue against rendering {{lang|pl|województwo}} in English as "province", on historical grounds: before the third, last [[Partitions of Poland|Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], in 1795, each of the main constituent ''regions'' of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]—[[Greater Poland]], [[Lesser Poland]], [[Lithuania]], and [[Royal Prussia]]—was sometimes [[idiosyncrasy|idiosyncratically]] referred to as a "province" ({{lang|pl|[[prowincja]]}}). According to the argument, such a ''prowincja'' (for example, Greater Poland) cannot consist of a number of subdivisions ("{{lang|pl|województw'''a'''}}", the plural of "{{lang|pl|województw'''o'''}}") that are likewise called "provinces". This, however, is an antiquarian consideration, as the word "province" has not been used in Poland in this sense of a ''region'' for over two centuries; and those former larger political units, all now obsolete, can now be referred to in English as what they actually were: "regions".

The [[Polish language|Polish]] {{lang|pl|województwo}}, designating a second-tier Polish or Polish–Lithuanian administrative unit, derives from {{lang|pl|wojewoda}}, (etymologically, a '[[warlord]]', 'war leader' or 'leader of warriors',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://culture.pl/en/article/all-over-the-map-a-quick-tour-of-polands-voivodeships |title=All Over the Map: A Quick Tour of Poland’s Voivodeships |website=culture.pl |author=Marek Kępa |access-date=8 October 2024}}</ref> but now simply the [[governor]] of a {{lang|pl|województwo}}) and the [[suffix]] {{lang|pl|-ztwo}} (a "state or condition").

The English ''voivodeship'', which is a [[hybrid word|hybrid]] of the [[loanword]] ''voivode'' and ''-ship'' (the latter a [[suffix]] that [[calque]]s the Polish suffix {{lang|pl|-ztwo}}), has never been much used and is absent from many dictionaries. According to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', it first appeared in 1792, spelled "woiwodship", in the sense of "the district or province governed by a voivode." The word subsequently appeared in 1886 also in the sense of "the office or dignity of a voivode."<ref>"Voivodeship", ''[[The Oxford English Dictionary]]'', second edition, volume XIX, Oxford, [[Clarendon Press]], 1989, p. 739.</ref>

Poland's Commission on Standardization of Geographic Names outside the Republic of Poland, prefers the form which omits the 'e', recommending the spelling "{{notatypo|voivodship}}", for use in English.<ref>{{cite book|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191124064818/http://ksng.gugik.gov.pl/pliki/topon_inte.doc.pdf |archive-date=2019-11-24 |url=http://ksng.gugik.gov.pl/pliki/topon_inte.doc.pdf|title=Toponymic Guidelines of Poland for Map Editors and Other Users|isbn=83-239-4555-1|website=ksng.gugik.gov.pl |last1=Wolnicz-Pawłowska |first1=Ewa |year=2002 |publisher=Główny Urząd Geodezii i Kartografii / Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ksng.gugik.gov.pl/english/sopgn.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907124517/http://ksng.gugik.gov.pl/english/sopgn.php |archive-date=2021-09-07 |title=Standardization of Polish Geographical Names}}</ref>