"Родина" vs. "отечество"

Question

What is the difference between родина vs. отечество? (Apart from grammatical gender, of course.) Is either one older? Of a higher register? When should I use which? What is the reason for having two words where one will do?

Before you bring it up, I might as well point out myself that yes, a similar situation can be encountered in a multitude of languages. Homeland vs. fatherland, die Heimat vs. das Vaterland, le pays vs. la patrie, and so on and so forth. But if anything, that raises a follow-up question: is either of родина and отечество perhaps even a calque?

And as a bonus: what about отчизна? That seems like a real weird mixture, a feminine noun stemming from father. Are there even others still? And again, what is the difference between them all?

Answer 1

Grammatical gender has some meaning partcularly in this case. Both words assume some patriotic feelings, but while "Родина" is usually interpreted as something feminine and native ("родина — родить"), "Отечество" means something masculine and even somewhat brave ("отечество — отец"). To simplify things, you may roughly translate "Родина" to "motherland" and "Отечество" to "fatherland". "Отчизна" has the same sense as "Отечество", but is used rarely and mostly in poetic context.

Following Wikipedia pages you might find useful:

• Fatherland — scroll down to "the Russians...";
• The Motherland Calls — see "Sculpture name and translation".

Answer 2

Родина often means location where you born. Отечество means country where you born. Отечество also means родина.

This statements is true. У меня на родине, в Москве. Отечественного производства. Made in Russia.

P.S.

Отчизна often used with патриотизм.

P.S.

Родина (я думаю) одного корня со словом "родной" (близкий сердцу, родственный).

Родные просторы - луга и поля.

Answer 3

Родина

Слово родина можно привязать к предмету. К примеру:

Шоколад родом из Америки

и это означает что шоколад впервые был создан в Америке. Выражение:

Отечество шоколада - Америка

Тоже правильно, но не верно. И если вы используете его в диалоге, то вас не поймут.

Слово Родина можно привязать к Городу. К примеру:

Моя родина - Иркутск.

Если вы скажете:

Мое Отечество - Иркутск

Вас поймут, но не все. А за спиной скажут "Что то с этим парнем не так..."

Отечество

Данное слово утратило свой смысл, и большое количество людей предпочитают замену - родина так как слово родина универсальней.

Отечество может использоваться только в тех случаях, когда вы хотите сказать из какой страны вы родом.

Мое отечество - Россия

Answer 4

Родина = kinland/homeland/birthland all in one. Отчизна = stateland (countryland). It's more official

Answer 5

The word "отечество" is quite outdated in modern Russian. It was widely used before 1917, but after the revolution it was gradually replaced with родина.

So in most cases you most likely need to use "родина". Exceptions are:

• The Constitution. It uses "отечество" in the context of military service. It is also used in the law regulating military service and in the military oath.

• If you want to look monarchist, "old-style" person in the context of military service or patriotism.

When speaking about "a motherland" (as opposed "the motherland"), you should use "родина".

Answer 6

There is no difference in meaning. As far as usage, родина is used most often in everyday speech, while отечество is more poetic (or pompous, if you will). I would say отчизна is even higher register than отечество.

Answer 7

Some words composed in a way similar to "родина" can be found in ancient literature.

• година - years
• скотина - cattle
• былина - myth
• старина - old times

I would suggest that "отечество" originate in great style aristocratic language of 1800-1900.