On the ethnonym of Rutheni in medieval Transylvania
Medieval chronicles record an ethnonym that is confusingly close to the name Rus’ not only in Eastern, but also in Central Europe. Attempts to explain the toponymy of “Russian” origin north of the Danube by exclusively late waves of migration from the lands of Galicia and Podolia contradict the indications of a number of sources. The ethnonym Rut(h)eni, Oroszok and their accompanying toponyms, scattered across the east of the Carpathian Basin, mark not only the settlements of East Slavic migrants, but also, possibly, the settlements of the autochthonous ethnos, also known as veteres Russi, Rutheni. The autochthons of the region partly merged with the the 13th-15th centuries Ruthenian resettlement wave from the northeast, as a result of which, in the historical tradition they were most often considered to be single. At the same time, it is possible that the autochthons and their ethnonym were not directly related to the Eastern Slavs and their origin was associated with ethnic processes on the outskirts of the Avar Khaganate. The initially multi-tribal population of the Khaganate, primarily the Gepids and the Romanised population, being exposed to the cultural influence of its ruling layer, lost its own identity and acquired a new common name, reflected in the resource or geographical origin of the name Rus’.