Is ''Russian'' a nationality or ethnicity?

[Terek]

IMO Other ethnicities Tatars and so should not say they are Russian, because they are not Russian. Why should they want to be Russian? It is a shame so many they don't care to explain to foreigners who they are, they say they are from Russia and are assumed to be Russian. I've even heard a Dagestan person say that.

People should tell the truth about their nationality.

[StonyArabia]

IMO Other ethnicities Tatars and so should not say they are Russian, because they are not Russian. Why should they want to be Russian? It is a shame so many they don't care to explain to foreigners who they are, they say they are from Russia and are assumed to be Russian. I've even heard a Dagestan person say that.

People should tell the truth about their nationality.

My Dad only does it because for simplicity sake, since they ask and inquire which can get annoying and when he says he is "Russian" they usually don't bother him with it. It's not because they are wanna bees or what not.

[Terek]

My Dad only does it because for simplicity sake, since they ask and inquire which can get annoying and when he says he is "Russian" they usually don't bother him with it. It's not because they are wanna bees or what not.

Why does he not say Cherkess?

When people ask me even just where am I from not what is my ethnicity, I say I'm from Chechnya, not Russia, even though I was born outside of the Chechen Republic.

[SilverKnight]

I say both, Russians have their own unique culture(s), history, and language. Even non cultural Russians (Tatars, Uzbeks, Dagestan) within Russian Federation are Russian in nationality, despite not being in culture as such.

Therefore both.

[Terek]

I say both, Russians have their own unique culture(s), history, and language. Even non cultural Russians within Russian Federation are Russian in nationality, despite not being in culture as such.

Therefore both.

How are we Russian in nationality? Only citizenship (гражданство) it is only the origin of our passport.

[SilverKnight]

How are we Russian in nationality? Only citizenship (гражданство) it is only the origin of our passport.

To me as long as you have nationality then you are, like I said clearly in my post, you can be Russian in nationality but not necessarily in culture/ethnicity.
In my opinion..

[Terek]

To me as long as you have nationality then you are, like I said clearly in my post, you can be Russian in nationality but not necessarily in culture/ethnicity.
In my opinion..

I think it's just depends on how you translate.... grazhdanstvo, nationality as in what country are you from, under what state government, yes, then the Russian Federation.

But naciya, nacional'nost' that is nationality like ethnicity, I am not part of a Russian "nation". I am Chechen.

[Comte Arnau]

How are we Russian in nationality? Only citizenship (гражданство) it is only the origin of our passport.

Because in the English language, nationality means citizenship.

[Stefan]

If we're going to argue semantics, a nation and ethnic group are the same thing, just words that have different origins.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=ethnic

late 14c., Scottish, "heathen, pagan," and having that sense first in English; as an adj. from late 15c. from L. ethnicus, Gk. ethnikos, from ethnos "band of people living together, nation, people," prop. “people of one's own kind,” from PIE *swedh-no-, suffixed form of root *s(w)e- (see idiom). In Septuagint, Gk. ta ethne translates Heb. goyim, pl. of goy "nation," especially of non-Israelites, hence "Gentile nation." Sense of "peculiar to a race or nation" is attested from 1851, a return to the word's original meaning; that of "different cultural groups" is 1935; and that of "racial, cultural or national minority group" is Amer.Eng. 1945; ethnic cleansing is attested from 1991.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?...earchmode=none

c.1300, from O.Fr. nacion and directly from L. nationem (nom. natio) "nation, stock, race," lit. "that which has been born," from natus, pp. of nasci "be born" (Old L. gnasci; see genus). Political sense has gradually taken over from racial meaning "large group of people with common ancestry." Older sense preserved in application to North American Indian peoples (1640s). Nation-building first attested 1907 (implied in nation-builder).

Of course in the modern world that doesn't work, because not all states are nation-states. In that case, nationality implies one's placement in a state rather than a nation.

Hence this term:

1690s, "national quality," from national + -ity (in some usages perhaps from Fr. nationalité. As "fact of belonging to or being a citizen of a particular state," from 1828, gradually (and erroneously) shading into "race, ethnicity." Meaning "separate existence as a nation" is recorded from 1832. Related: Nationalities.

[StonyArabia]

Why does he not say Cherkess?

He does say that he is Cherkess, and then they ask what is that and he says it's an ethnic group from Southern Russia, and they say then you are Russian, and then he says yes lol.

When people ask me even just where am I from not what is my ethnicity, I say I'm from Chechnya, not Russia, even though I was born outside of the Chechen Republic.

Yeah he says he is from Russia but not in the ethnic sense.