Polonyna (montane meadow)

The term polonyna was introduced to English from Slavic languages, in order to designate various mountainous regions, mainly in the Eastern Carpathians, and also in the Western Carpathians. The polonyna type areas of montane meadows are very frequent in the Outer Eastern Carpathians, particularly in the Eastern Beskids. Throughout history, they were used for pasture, and in modern times they have become a popular destination for various forms of recreational tourism.

The noun polonyna (plur. polonynas) and its corresponding adjectives (anglicized as polonyne or polonynian) are also used frequently in local toponyms throughout the Carpathian region. One of two main mountain ranges of the Eastern Beskids is known as the Polonyne Beskids or Polonynian Beskids (Ukrainian: Полонинські Бескиди; Polish: Beskidy Połonińskie), and it includes several mountains that also contain the same term in their names, like: Smooth Polonyna (Polish: Połonina Równa; Ukrainian: Полонина Рівна), Polonyna Borzhava (Polish: Połonina Borżawska; Ukrainian: Полонина Боржава), Red Polonyna (Polish: Połonina Czerwona; Ukrainian: Червонa Полонина), etc.

The word is of Proto-Slavic origin and means a wide open place. It came, by the way, from the Balkans.

When you go out in the Carpathians to any treeless clearing or bald mountainside, you can be sure that there is a meadow in front of you. This also applies to the Alpine belt in the Ukrainian Carpathians. In the mountains of the Crimea and Turkey, the analogues of the meadow are yayla.

Polonina in the Carpathians

In the Carpathians, this word is found all the time, and it means "a clearing or treeless place." Most of the modern floodplains are man-made, since earlier the lower reaches and slopes of the Carpathians were completely covered with forest, except for high-mountain alpine meadows. Such grassy areas were needed by the Hutsuls (local ethnic group) for grazing, which was the most important thing for survival and subsistence in the mountains. At first, cattle grazed mainly in high-mountain meadows - natural meadows.However, with the growth of the population, people cut down more and more new areas of the forest - turning them into meadows. They were inherited from generation to generation and became something in the likeness of ancestral lands. each valley has its own name.

Planina in the Balkans

This word is found not only in Ukraine, but also in the mountains of the Balkans. So, for example, on a hike in the mountains of Bulgaria on the route, we often see on the signs and hear from travelers the familiar word "planina".

Here, however, this concept refers to the mountains as a whole, and not just treeless areas. Even hiking in the mountains in Bulgaria is called "planinarism".

On Durmitor (mountain range and park of the same name in the Dinaric Alps, Montenegro), large expanses of high mountains bear the same name.