A krai or kray (/kraɪ/; Russian: край, plural: края́, kraya) is one of the types of federal subjects of modern Russia, and was a type of geographical administrative division in the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR.
Etymologically, the word is related to the verb "кроить" (kroit'), "to cut".[1] Historically, krais were vast territories located along the periphery of the Russian state, since the word krai also means border or edge, i.e., a place of the cut-off. In English the term is often translated as "territory". As of 2015, the administrative usage of the term is mostly traditional, as some oblasts also fit this description and there is no difference in legal status between the krais and the oblasts.[2]
See also
- Krais of the Russian Empire
- Krais of Russia
- Governorate-General (Russian Empire), a general term for Krais, Oblasts, and special city municipalities in the Russian Empire
- Oblast
- Foreign terms (in relation to the Russian "Krai") with similar designation
- Kraj, an equivalent term used in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
- Krajina
- Kreis, an administrative unit in Germany
- Marches (Mark, in German) compare to Denmark (literally the borderland of Danes).
- Ukraine
References
- ^ Etymology of the word Archived May 27, 2012, at Archive.today (in Russian)
- ^ 12 декабря 1993 г «Конституция Российской Федерации. Статья 5.», в ред. Федерального конституционного закона №5-ФКЗ от 21 июля 2007 г. (December 12, 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation. Article 5., as amended by the Federal Constitutional Law #5-FKZ of July 21, 2007. ).