Etymology

Great Patriotic War

Today it means: The German-Soviet war (a portion of World War II fought between the USSR and Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945). Full definition →

Russian Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́
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The story

  1. Russian · calque ofВели́кая Оте́чественная война́
  2. English todayGreat Patriotic War

Calque of Russian Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́ (Velíkaja Otéčestvennaja vojná). This term was first used in 1844 to refer to the Russian resistance and victory over Napoleon's invasion, and was evoked again in 1912 during the centenary of the French defeat. In 1941, the newspaper Pravda used the term for the defence against the German invasion of the Soviet Union, in order to motivate citizens to unite and fight.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.