Ruthenia is a toponym applied over the centuries to various areas settled by the Eastern Slavs within the territory of present-day Belarus and Ukraine. It was originally the Latin name for the territories of Kyivan Rus in the Middle Ages. Later, it was used in Western Europe to refer to the East Slavic territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, later still, to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The multiplicity of meanings that “Ruthenia” had developed by end of the 19^th century – it can refer to the Transcarpathia, for instance – has frequently resulted in confusion since then.