Rzeczpospolita

Rzeczpospolita () is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin "res publica" ("res" "thing" + "publica" "public, common"), i.e. "republic", in English also rendered as "commonwealth (historic) and republic (current)."
In Poland, the word "Rzeczpospolita" is used exclusively in relation to the Republic of Poland, while any other republic is referred to in Polish as a "republika", e.g., Italian Republic — .
Origins.
the term "rzeczpospolita" has been used in Poland since the beginning of the 16th century. Originally it was a generic term to denote a state or a commonness. The famous quote by Jan Zamoyski, the Lord Chancellor of the Crown, on the importance of education, is an example of its use:
The meaning of "rzeczpospolita" is well described by the term "commonwealth". As a result, the literal meaning of "Rzeczpospolita Polska" is "Polish Commonwealth", or "Republic of Poland". However, the connotation with the term "republic" may be somewhat misleading in the context of the Polish State within the period of the 16th to the 18th century, because Poland in that time was an elective monarchy and the "rzeczpospolita" was reflected in the official name, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The three "Rzeczpospolitas".
"Rzeczpospolita" is also used in a series of symbolic names referring to three periods in the History of Poland:
Other usage.
Expressions that make use the concept of "rzeczpospolita" include:
Nowadays, the terms "Rzeczpospolita" and "Rzeczpospolita Polska" are used interchangeably, so far as they relate to the Polish State by default.
Before 1939, "Rzeczpospolita" was sometimes abbreviated to "Rzplita" in written documents, while "RP" is still a common abbreviation for "Rzeczpospolita Polska".
The Lithuanian word "Žečpospolita" is a direct borrowing from Polish. The East Slavic equivalents of the name are: ; ; .