Rusin toponymy of Carpatho-Dniestrian land as a source of information on the ethnic composition of the Moldavian Principality

East Slavic (Rusin) toponyms are common in the Carpatho-Dniestrian lands, including the territory of the Moldavian medieval principality, the so-called historical Moldova. Although 73.8% of the names of villages in Moldavia of the 14th - 15th centuries were of Eastern Roman origin, Slavic toponyms made approximately 24.5%.Many names had suffixes -ovtsy (-evtsy), -intsy (-entsy). The settlements with these Rusin suffixes are mentioned in the Moldovan diplomacy from the 14th century and account for 12.5% of all the comonies of medieval Moldavia. Most homonyms and hydronyms of Rusin origin are noted in the north-east of Romania (Western Moldova), in the Chernovtsy region of Ukraine and in the north of the Republic of Moldova. These toponyms indicate the regions of compact residence of Rusins in the Middle Ages and the autochthonousness of this ethnos. This information is confirmed by written and archaeological sources. An ancient Moldovan legend about the founding of the principality told by a Moldovan chroniclers identifies the same regions of the compact settlement of Rusins in Medieval Moldavia. Being the second largest ethnic group after the Volokhs, the Rusins played an important role in the ethnogenesis of the Moldovan people, formation of the Moldovan statehood, political system of the country, legislation, Moldovan culture and language. Although most of the Rusins were later assimilated by Volokhs (Moldavians), many of them continued to maintain their identity, compactly residing in the north of the Moldavian principality.

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