Ukrainian Language Institute confirms: “civilian” means state subject, not member of a people
Received: 14.03.2024
The Institute of the Ukrainian Language, in its response dated April 4, 2024, confirmed that the word цивільний(“civil”) in the Ukrainian language is classified as a loanword, with the primary meanings of “non-military” and “civilian.” Etymologically, it derives from the Latin civilis, meaning “civil,” “state-related,” or “civilized,” which in turn comes from civis — “citizen.”
Importantly, the term цивільний in Ukrainian is interpreted as referring to a person’s administrative status as a citizen, rather than to their ethnic or national belonging. The Institute also lists the older Slavic root съѧмия (meaning “family,” “household,” or “kin”), which points to a concept more closely associated with ethnic or cultural affiliation. This demonstrates a clear linguistic distinction between “civilian” (state-related status) and “familial” or “ethnic” identity in historical usage.
The comparative linguistic parallels from other languages (Slavic, Baltic, Germanic, etc.) also show that the concept of “civil” is generally tied to residency, settlement, or legal affiliation with a city or polity, rather than with a titular or ancestral people.
This has critical implications for legal analysis in Ukraine: if a person is recognized only as “civil” (i.e., an individual with administrative affiliation to the state), but is not recognized as a member of a “people” in the sense defined in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), then they do not possess collective subjectivity — only individual subordination.
Therefore, the Institute’s response indirectly confirms that in Ukrainian legal and linguistic tradition, “citizen” and “people” are not synonymous. A citizen may belong to the state but not necessarily to the people — and thus may not be considered a bearer of sovereignty. This has direct legal consequences in evaluating the legitimacy of military mobilization, the interpretation of Articles 17 and 65 of the Constitution, and the legal effect of excluding ethnic Ukrainians from the category of “peoples” under Ukrainian law.
