DCHP-1 Online

Galician [< Galicia] Hist.

• 1 n. one of the many Slavic immigrants, particularly Ukrainians, coming to Canada from central Europe in the late 1800's and later.

  See also: Ruthenian (def. 1)  Sifton's Sheepskins  

  • The term came to be used in a derogatory sense to mean any Central European immigrant; it is little used nowadays except among older people in the West.

  • 1903  The lost tribes of Israel, in the dishevelled shapes of Galicians and Doukhobors, are getting the south branch of the C. and E. into splendid condition, ballasting with gravel and giving it a complete overhauling.
  • 1912  (1914)  "Say, Parson, I'm not lousy," said Harry, "but I can't answer for them darned Galicians [in the bunk] above."
  • 1953  I once tried to get from a simple man, his notion of a "bohunk." Were Galicians, "bohunks"?

• 2 n. the language of such people, especially Ukrainian. See also Ruthenian (def. 2).

  See also: Ruthenian (def. 2)  

  • 1909  "He does not understand Russian," said Paulina. "Speak in Galician."