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?