Interestingly enough, the slimming capsule Lida DaiDaihua was invented by a Chinese Research Institute, but the name Lida has slavonic origins. Personally, I love the name Lida, just because the sister of my great grandmother was named Lida. She was one resilient person with a long and tough life. Grandma Lida lost her husband during the Bolshevik revolution and she was kept in a Gestapo prison camp for 8 years with her two little daughters, 2 and 4 years old. In 1937 the dictator of the Soviet Union, Stalin, started to chase down the "enemies of the state".

Grandma Lida tought me how to cook Russian food, clean dishes and be nice to people. She called me "bunny rabbit" and loved me as her own child. Her granddaughter, my cousin was called Lida after her grandma. As you can see, I have a hereditary relationship with the name Lida.

25 years later in 2001, the Kunming Dali Industry and Trade Corporation came up with a new slimming capsule (diet pill) with the first name of my grandma "Lida" and the chinese second name "DaiDaihua", which, by the way makes the Russian speaking community laugh their heads off. "Dai" in Russian means "Give me", and "Hua" in a certain gender means… Well, intelligent people don't speak about these matters in public.

Anyway, I thought it would be interesting for me to make some historical research of the name "Lida".

First of all, the name "Lida" is derived from river's name Lidzeya, which origin is associated with the Lithuanian language appellative word Lyda - Lydimas, meaning fuse. Originally in Lithuania/Litwa/Litva/Lita, Lida was part of the Grand Duchy connected with Poland and then annexed by Russia. The Lida District was in the Great Lithuanian Principality from the second half of the 13th to the 15th centuries when the capital was Vilnya. Lida was founded at the same time as Vilna, about 1320. In 1801, Lida was part of Grodnenskaya Guberniya, Russian Empire. Lida remained there until 1842, when jurisdiction returned to the Vilna Guberniya. Guberniya as a political designation was abolished after the Russian Revolution in 1917. The 1st and 2nd uchastoks ["parts"] made up Lida (Lidzky Uezd) District during the 8th and early 19th centuries. The district center was the town of Lida.

Lida, Belarus, Part of Poland ( 1920 -1939), was also part of the Russian Empire prior to the first World War. Since 1992, Lida has remained in the republic of Belarus.

Today Lida province (Powiat, Poland) contains 4,935 agricultural tracts (plus lowlands about a quarter in forest), more than 122,000 inhabitants, and sand and gravel allotments. The principal river is the Nieman. Inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, weaving linen, breeding cattle and other domestic animals.

Within Lida province there are two Catholic deaconates: Lida and Radun. The Lida Russian-Orthodox deaconate contains 12 parishes: Lida, Zblany, Honczary, Holdowo, Dokudowo, Mala Mozejka, Lebioda, Zyzmiany, Bielica, Bobrowicze, Mytnica, and Radziwoniszki, for a total of 16,280 parishioners. Besides these, there is still a single Russian Orthodox deaconate for Szczuczyn within Lida province. Overall, Lida province has 31 Orthodox churches.

In present days the city Lida is a beautiful tourist center in Belarus. The name Lida there has its own legend. The duke Gedemin had a beautiful daughter named Lida. Everybody loved Lida, rich and poor, young and old for her big heart. The time had come to choose a husband for Lida. Lida's father found for her a "political" husband, the duke's neighbor - an old and ugly guy. The beautiful Lida refused to marry him, but her father didn't listen. When the groom came to the Gedemin's castle to make a proposal, Lida rushed herself to the castle's tower and jumped to her death. Lida's father accepted his mistake and called the city around his castle Lida. But this is just a legend.

Another town called Lida located in Nevada. It called Lida Ghost town. Lida was first founded in the late 1860's, an outgrowth of the Gold boom. Today Lida still has a population but no services.

We also know about the Lida Society of Israel. The LIDA Project Experimental Theatre Company - Denver, CO. Lida Travel agency for some reason offers tours to Mongolia, but not to Belarus. Lida Rose is famous for her creative photography, Lida E. Harkins is involved in the Boston Network for Women in Politics and Government, and in the Charles River Association for Retarded Citizens (Board of Directors).

Many Russian women have name Lida (Lidia). By old Slavonic tradition, Russians name their children after Orthodox saints who were born on the same day. Many girls born on April 5th would probably be named after the Orthodox saint Lida (Lidia) Illiriskaya.

Sometime between 117-138 ad. Lida, her husband, Phillip and two sons were tortured by the emperor Adrian for their Christian belief. The entire family was sent to Illiria where their bodies were cut and sliced. As Orthodox history says the angel appeared to them the night before the day of their execution. In the morning Lida, Phillip and two children were thrown into boiling oil. But the oil miraculously cooled off and they survived. Their torturer was so amazed that he believed in God and stepped himself in the boiling oil and came out alive.

Coming back to Lida Slimming Capsule. It seems that this name was derived from two Chinese names Li and Da. So you can put them in either direction - Lida or Dali - however you like while "DaiDaihua" is the name of the Chinese herbal Formula.

Here is the Chinese Name for Lida:



I hope you enjoyed this little historical excursion into the Slavonic - Chinese derivation of the word Lida that has so many different meanings and forms.

Galina Krachkovskaia