Болгарщина

From болгар (bolhar, “Bulgarian”) +‎ -щина (-ščyna). Compare with Ukrainian Словаччина (Slovaččyna, “Slovakia”), Ukrainian Німеччина (Nimeččyna, “Germany”), or Ukrainian Греччина (Hreččyna, “Greece”).

An unattested form *Бовгарщина is also possible, as the form бовгар^[1] exists, which is a cognate to болгар, where "л" (l) after "о" (o) got changed to "в" (v), which is a common occurrence in Ukrainian phonology.

Болга́рщина • (Bolhárščyna) f inan (genitive Болга́рщини, uncountable)

1. Bulgaria (a country in Southeast Europe)

   Synonym: Болга́рія (Bolhárija)

• Melnychuk, O. S., editor (1982–2012), “Болгарщина”, in Етимологічний словник української мови [Etymological Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language] (in Ukrainian), Kyiv: Naukova Dumka
• Болгарщина in Словарь української мови (Борис Грінченко) (1907) (in Ukrainian with Russian descriptions)