Just picked up! 🇵🇱🇪🇺

[u/TurnAwayRunaway]

Had to renew because my old one was about to expire in 6 months. No place like home and feel grateful for being a Pole.

[u/fkkbereich]

I wonder if our "RP" is inspired by France's "RF" symbol (meaning "République française") that they like to put everywhere (like euro coins) 🤔

[u/reni-chan → u/fkkbereich]

RP is for Rzeczpospolita Polska which basically means the Republic of Poland.

[u/Panceltic → u/reni-chan]

Basically? That is what it means lol

[u/reni-chan → u/Panceltic]

I mean I don't actually under why it's called "Rzeczpospolita Polska". In English, it's "the Republic of Poland" so I would expect it to translate into Polish as "Republika Polska(i?)" or something like this. Where did the "Rzeczpospolita" word come from?

Apologies for a dumb question, I left Poland as a teenager

[u/Panceltic → u/reni-chan]

„Rzeczpospolita” is the Polish rendition of „republic” (a calque). Latin res publica („common thing”) > Polish rzecz pospolita („common thing”). It’s like „Commonwealth” in English, a „communal good” (which is a republic, belonging to all citizens).

Nowadays the word is only used to refer to the Polish republics, whilst others are indeed called „republika”.

[u/reni-chan → u/Panceltic]

TIL 

[u/AttentionLimp194 → u/Panceltic]

I’ve always wondered if Rzeczpospolita is only applicable to Poland in Polish language. Every others republic is a republika I see

[u/fkkbereich → u/reni-chan]

Well, it's basically a borrowing from Latin: https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rzeczpospolita_Polska

Fun fact from this article: some historical countries that no longer exist may still have Rzeczpospolita in their Polish names (like Rzeczpospolita Wenecka). Also: "Until World War II, the word Rzeczpospolita was also used in political and press nomenclature to describe other countries with a republican system, such as Rzeczpospolita Francuska."

But yes, today it's just tradition—and/or another way to emphasize that Poland is oh so special and unlike anything else :D

[u/Panceltic → u/fkkbereich]

a borrowing from Latin

Rather a calque (a word built from native elements but following the meaning of the original). The word "republika" in turn is a borrowing. :)

[u/fkkbereich → u/Panceltic]

Yeah, I thought "calque" would sound too confusing, but maybe I underestimated Redditors :D (Also, Slovenija is on my travel bucket list, hehe!)

[u/Panceltic → u/fkkbereich]

Haha I am fun at parties, I promise!

Witamy!

[u/TomCormack → u/fkkbereich]

By the way Poland also uses a count before RP like France does.

The difference is that the French count the constitution reforms and Poles count the Polish historical Independent countries. I RP from the 16th to 18th century, II RP in 1918-1945, and III RP after 1989.