Poleszuk (
Polish spelling;
Belarusian ???????,
Palašuk;
Ukrainian ???????,
Polishchuk;
Russian ???????,
Poleshchuk) is the name given to the people who populated the swamps of
Polesia.
The Poleszuk dialect is close to both Ukrainian, Belarusian and Polish languages. Although recently most scholars assign it as a dialect of Ukrainian, it maintains many local peculiarities and is notably distinct from other Slavic languages and dialects of the area.
The Primary Chronicle uses the name Dregovichs for an ancient Slavic tribe settled between Pripyat and Western Dvina rivers. The name comes from the Slavic word dregva or dryhva ("swamp"). This tribe is thought to be the ancestors of modern Poliszuks.
Inhabitants of remote areas of modern Belarus and Poland, the Poleszuks did not develop their own national identity until relatively recently. Hence when asked for their nationality in Imperial Russian and then Polish censuses, many of them answered tutejszy (Belarusian ??????? ˜ English I am local), and were categorized either as "other nationalities", Poles, Belarusians or Russians, depending mostly on their religion and political situation. In the Polish census of 1931 approximately 800,000 people declared themselves to be "locals" rather than Poles or Belarusians.
