The Eastern Baltic languages are a group of languages that along with the extinct
Western Baltic languages
The Western Baltic languages were a group of Baltic languages that were spoken by Western Baltic peoples. Western Baltic is one of the two primary branches of Baltic languages, along with Eastern Baltic. It includes Old Prussian, Sudovian, Weste ...
belong to the branch of the
Baltic language
The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 4.5 million people mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. Together with the Slavic langu ...
family. The Eastern Baltic branch has only two living languages—
Latvian and
Lithuanian. In some cases,
Latgalian and
Samogitian are also considered to be separate languages but they are generally treated as
dialects
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
. It also includes now-extinct
Selonian,
Semigallian, possibly
Old Curonian.
Lithuanian is the most-spoken Eastern Baltic language, with more than 3 million speakers worldwide. Latvian comes second with 1.75 million native speakers.
History
Origins and characteristics
Originally, East Baltic was presumably native to the north of
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...
, which included modern
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
, northern parts of current
European Russia
European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...
and
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
.
Dnieper Balts
The Dnieper Balts were a subgroup of the Eastern Balts, that lived in the Dnieper river basin for millennia until the Late Middle Ages, when they were partly destroyed and partly assimilated by the Slavs by the 13th century. To the north and north ...
, a subgroup of the Eastern Balts, lived in the current territory of
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, which was the furthest undisputed eastern territory inhabited by the Eastern Baltic people.
Traditionally, it is believed that Western and Eastern Baltic people had already possessed certain unique traits that separated them in the middle of the last millennium BC and began to permanently split between
5th
Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five.
Fifth or The Fifth may refer to:
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth"
* Fifth column, a political term
* Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...
and
3rd century BC
In the Mediterranean Basin, the first few decades of this century were characterized by a balance of power between the Greek Hellenistic kingdoms in the east, and the great mercantile power of Carthage in the west. This balance was shattered ...
.
[Zinkevičius, Zigmas, Luchtanas, Aleksiejus, Česnys, Gintautas (2006)]
''Apie_skirtumus_tarp_rytų_ir_vakarų_baltų_[About_the_Differences_Between_Eastern_and_Western_Balts
/nowiki>''.html" ;"title="bout the Differences Between Eastern and Western Balts">''Apie skirtumus tarp rytų ir vakarų baltų _and_Home_construction.html" ;"title="Ceramic.html" "title="bout the Differences Between Eastern and Western Balts
/nowiki>''">bout the Differences Between Eastern and Western Balts">''Apie skirtumus tarp rytų ir vakarų baltų [About the Differences Between Eastern and Western Balts
/nowiki>''(in Lithuanian). During this time, Western and Eastern Balts adopted different traditions and customs. They had separate Ceramic">ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
and Home construction">housebuilding traditions. In addition, both groups had their own burial customs: unlike their Western counterparts, it is believed that Eastern Balts would burn the remains of the dead and scatter the ashes on the ground or nearby rivers and lakes. It is also known that Eastern Balts were much more susceptible to the cultural influences coming from their
neighbours in the northeast.
than their Western counterparts with Latvian being the most modern Baltic language. This is mostly because of the influence Baltic Finnic languages had on their development as in the case of
retraction. Extinct languages of the Eastern family group are poorly understood as they are practically unattested.