Yakutia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large federal republic in the far northeast of Siberia within the Russian Federation, known for its extreme cold and vast forests
2. An expansive region of northeastern Russia in Siberia, administratively a republic and rich in natural resources such as diamonds and gold
3. The Sakha Republic, a sprawling territory in eastern Siberia where permafrost covers much of the land and winters are severely cold

Etymology: Yakutia is the name Russians gave to the vast northeastern territory whose people call themselves Sakha, and the English word is simply borrowed from Russian Якутия (Jakutija). The Russian name was itself formed from "Yakut," the term used for the Turkic-speaking people of the region, so the place name carries the ethnic name inside it rather than describing the land. English speakers picked up the Russian form as-is, which is why the word keeps the Russian spelling pattern "-ia" rather than a local form. The republic was established as the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1922, and the name was later changed to the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in 1992 to reflect the Sakha people's own name for themselves. Both names remain in use, with "Yakutia" the familiar English form.