:::: I'm on your side of the argument here, anonymous, but I sure have to disagree with your point number 2.  Russian means "of or pertaining to Russia".  Since Россия was not yet conceived at the time, and we happen to be writing an encyclopedia in modern English, you can't use twelfth-century Old East Slavic etymology to equate Rus’ with Russia.  —  2005-12-6 04:15 Z