Talk:Vawkavysk

Recent expansion of article

Thank you, User:Jakto for your recent improvements to the article. The section on "Prehistory" is still a bit garbled, but I assume that you will fix it up. I can only help with basic copyediting here, since I have only rudimentary knowledge of Vawkavysk, mostly derived from this article. I also thank you in behalf of my wife and her family, who trace their ancestry back to this region. Keep up the good work! Reify-tech (talk) 15:47, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

Moved from user talk

Vawkavysk

From what I understand, the name of this town is inherently the same in each language, only spelled differently in accordance to the respective language. According to names in other languages: "Many cities in Europe have different names in different languages. Some cities have also undergone name changes for political or other reasons. This article attempts to give all known different names for all major cities that are geographically or historically and culturally in Europe." If you look at other cities (like Krakow or Warsaw) that have been occupied by different countries, you will not see the individual spellings in each language. I feel that by listing all of the numerous spelling variations, it is inviting controversy. It is currently in Belarus, so the name should be provided in the Belarusian spelling. Jakto (talk) 18:16, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

• Hi, Jakto. Please remember, Vawkavysk was never "occupied" by Poland contrary to your claim. It was a city "in Poland" for a long time, a major difference. Krakow and Warsaw were "occupied" by different countries throughout history. Your link to "names in different languages" is reserved for a variety of names that might not be native to the city... including Latin etc. Apples and oranges. A much better example for what I mean would be Poznań, a city with a long shared history between different nations. Thanks, Poeticbent talk 20:53, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Hi Poeticbent. I wanted to clarify that I did not claim that , {{}} was "occupied by Poland". I was referring to the numerous countries (Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine, to name a few) over the centuries that have claimed Vawkavysk as their own. It is impossible to know which name/language is native to this city, thus my reasoning for specifying the Belarusian version as its currently in Belarus. As you say, apples and oranges. An example for what I mean by using "names in other languages" would be Belgrade, which also is a city with a long shared history between different nations. As mentioned above, I strive for neutrality when editing posts, especially when I know there can be nationalistic undertones, as is the case with Vawkavysk and other areas from the Kresy. Perhaps we can add a section explaining the various names for this town? Pozdrawiam, Jakto (talk) 21:57, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Well, you said exactly, quote: "other cities (like Krakow or Warsaw) that have been occupied" (!) so please, acknowledge that you have actually claimed that, Jakto. Don't say that you didn't. And don't give me the capital cities as examples (for the second time already), because Vawkavysk is not a capital city of Belarus. Belarus is a young country. It did not exist in the faraway past. And please, do not revert back to your POV while pretending to be actively discussing the issue on my talk page. Thanks, Poeticbent talk 23:15, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

To be honest, I find you to be hostile and nationalistic in your interpretation of this article and my attempt to communicate with you. Your response to my initial post was to attack my phrasing and interpret it in a rather sensitive way. I will leave your edits to be discussed with other members of the Wikipedia community at a later date. I am not here to argue about whether or not a town or city was occupied by one country or another, or whether an article about a town or a city can be compared to one another. I offered the suggestion of creating a new section in order to explain the various names for this town, which was promptly ignored in order to make trivial, personalized attacks upon my person, instead of focusing on the article at hand. I understand the Polish POV about Vawkavysk seeing as I myself am Polish, but I will not allow national bias to influence how I edit posts. Jakto (talk) 00:52, 3 July 2014 (UTC)

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140714190610/http://volkovysk.grodno-region.by/ru/region/xarakter to http://volkovysk.grodno-region.by/ru/region/xarakter
• Added archive https://archive.is/20120525004915/http://belta.by/7days_plus.nsf/All/D799335202633D72422571F000327FEF?OpenDocument to http://belta.by/7days_plus.nsf/All/D799335202633D72422571F000327FEF?OpenDocument
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111121050609/http://www.prlib.ru/elfapps/pageturner2d/viewer.aspx?orderdate=02.07.2011&DocUNC_ID=4952&Token=9JopSD8yRZGSC4Pn87joXw==&lang=ru-RU to http://www.prlib.ru/elfapps/pageturner2d/viewer.aspx?orderdate=02.07.2011&DocUNC_ID=4952&Token=9JopSD8yRZGSC4Pn87joXw==&lang=ru-RU
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100927065153/http://volk.by/ to http://www.volk.by/

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Geography … wrong river linked

Hello! In the part "Geography" there is a link to Ros' River, but that river is in Ukraine and ends in River Dnieper. The River in this city is going to north, never reaches Ukraine and ends in Neman. --Wurgl (talk) 14:39, 24 October 2020 (UTC)

Etymology

An unref suggestion in bewiki is that the names of the river and the town have Baltic etymology. Parallels: lt:Vilkauja ("wolves' river"), Vilkaviškis. It makes sense, only remains to find good refs. BTW, I deleted an obviously invented naive folk etymology of "wolf+howl" or "wolf+neck", but kept the old legend about thugs; at least it has some elaborated mythological poetry in it. --Altenmann >talk 09:56, 20 May 2025 (UTC)

Requested move 31 May 2026

Vawkavysk → VolkovyskVolkovysk – In English it is mostly known under the Russian name (which language is co-official in Belarus), see google ngram --Altenmann >talk 23:45, 31 May 2026 (UTC) — Relisting. Jeffrey34555 (talk) 00:47, 8 June 2026 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:BELARUSIANNAMES. Unless a strong body of English-languages sources can be shown to use the Russian name, we follow BGN/PCGN Belarusian romanization. 162 etc. (talk) 04:14, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
  • Here is as a strong body as can be. --Altenmann >talk 04:34, 1 June 2026 (UTC)
  • P.S. WP:BELARUSIANNAMES is a suggestion that failed community support, so it cannot be argument. --Altenmann >talk 04:36, 1 June 2026 (UTC)

    The graph shows "Volkovysk" is much more often used recently but I had a quick glance at the books and it seems that this is mainly used in a historical context. Perhaps someone can have a closer look at this to see if it is also used in a modern context? Mellk (talk) 20:56, 3 June 2026 (UTC)

    Everything is historical context in eternal Wikipedia.--Altenmann >talk 00:12, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

    What I meant was that a lot of these books were referring to WWII and earlier, including Jewish history, rather than independent Belarus. A lot of books still use "Kiev" when referring to Soviet history and earlier, for example (sometimes "Kyiv" is deliberately only used when referring to independent Ukraine and "Kiev" before this). But maybe this does not really matter since Ngrams shows a wide margin. Mellk (talk) 04:55, 4 June 2026 (UTC)

    Correct; what matters is why would someone start looking for the town. --Altenmann >talk 15:47, 4 June 2026 (UTC)