Name Of Lithuania

The first known record of the name of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuva) is in a 9 March 1009 story of Saint Bruno recorded in the Quedlinburg Chronicle ( la, Annales Quedlinburgenses). The Chronicle recorded a Latinized form of the Old Church Slavonic word for Lithuania— (''Litva'')—Latinized as ''Litva'' (pronounced ). Although it is clear the name originated from a Baltic language, scholars still debate the meaning of the word.

Historic usage

During the 13th century the Duchy of Lithuania was bordered by Slavic lands. The Slavs did not create the name; they used the existing Lithuanian ethnonym. The Lithuanian diphthong -''ie''- has, in Slavic languages, shifted to the vowel -''i''- (), and the short -''u''- became extra-short (reduced) -''ŭ''- () which, being unstressed, later disappeared from the East Slavic, hence ''Litva''. This is evidence that the Slavs borrowed this ethnonym from Lithuanians a long time ago.

During the next century, Lithuania's name was recorded in other languages, including German and Polish. In early German chronicles Lithuania's name was spelled '' Lettowen''. In this form the German letter -''e''- is used to denote the Lithuanian diphthong -''ie''-, while ''-owen'' denotes the Lithuanian hydronymic suffix -''uva'' (-''ava''). The traditional Lithuanian root -''liet''- is encountered in various German terms of the era, such as ''Lettowen'', and in Latin as ''Lethovia'', ''Lettovia'', ''Lettavia'', etc. For example, after becoming the ruler of Lithuania, Grand Duke Algirdas appeared as the King of Lithuania ( lat, rex Letwinorum) in the Livonian Chronicles.

In the Rus' chronicles, Lithuania's name was written as , alongside a shortened version, (''Litva''), where -''i''- () was already used instead of the diphthong -''ie''. All of these names clearly originated from *''Lētuvā > Lietuva'', forms used by Lithuanians to identify their lands. The current form of the name ''Lietuva'' is thought to have been used by Lithuanians since the 12th or 13th century, but there are no written sources of that time, as the oldest existing manuscript in the Lithuanian language is dated back to the 16th century. Despite ample historic and linguistic evidence with regard to the name's usage in different languages, there is a certain degree of debate about the etymology of the name.

Grand Duke Gediminas's authentic symbols did not survive; however, it is known that in 1323 Gediminas sent 7 letters from his castle in Vilnius that also did not survive. Therefore, with them the Seal of Gediminas was also lost. Nevertheless, the letter's content is known from a transcript as on 1 July 1323 notary (John of Bremen) in the city of Lübeck confirmed a transcript of a 26 May 1323 letter of Gediminas and also described in detail the oval waxy seal which was attached to the letter. According to the notary's transcript, the oval Seal of Gediminas had a twelve corners edging, at the middle of the edging was an image of a man with long hair, who sat on a throne and held a crown (or a wreath) in his right hand and a sceptre in his left hand, moreover, a cross was engraved around the man along with a Latin inscription: ( en, Gediminas', by the grace of God, the King of the Lithuanians and the Rus' people, seal).

Following the Union of Lublin, the Lithuanians and Grand Dukes of Lithuania also called the Grand Duchy of Lithuania the Lithuanian Republic and considered it a separate entity from the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.

In a Lithuanian language panegyric to Sigismund III Vasa in 1589, the genitive case of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is . The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is referred to as in Lithuanian within a religious Christian book from 1653.'

File:Lithuanian language panegyric to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund III Vasa in AD 1589.png, Lithuanian panegyric to the Lithuanian Grand Duke in AD 1589, where the genitive case of the name of Lithuanian state is
File:Cover page of 'Knyga nobažnystės' from 1653 in Lithuanian.jpg, The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is called on the cover of a Christian religious book from AD 1653

Etymology

There have been several attempts to associate ''Lietuva'' with Celtic toponyms, and with Latin or Italian words, but these attempts all lack strong linguistic support. According to a widespread popular belief, the word ''Lietuva'' (Lithuania) originated from the Lithuanian words ''lyti'' (to rain) and ''lietus'' (rain). However, there is no serious scientific support for this theory. Since the word ''Lietuva'' has a suffix (-''uva''), the original word should have no suffix. A likely candidate is ''Lietā''. Because many Baltic ethnonyms originated from hydronyms, linguists have searched for its origin among local hydronyms. Usually such names evolved through the following process: hydronym → toponym → ethnonym.Zigmas Zinkevičius. Kelios mintys, kurios kyla skaitant Alfredo Bumblausko Senosios Lietuvos istoriją 1009-–1795m. Voruta, 2005.

A small river not far from Kernavė, the core area of the early Lithuanian state and a possible first capital of the would-be Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is usually credited as the source of the name. This river's original name is Lietava. As time passed, the suffix -''ava'' could have changed into -''uva'', as the two are from the same suffix branch. The river flows in the lowlands and easily spills over its banks, therefore the traditional Lithuanian form ''liet''- could be directly translated as ''lietis'' (to spill), of the root derived from the Proto-Indo-European *''leyǝ-''. However, the river is very small and some find it improbable that such a small and local object could have lent its name to an entire nation. On the other hand, such a fact is not unprecedented in world history.

While the word's etymology continues to be debated, scientists agree that the primary origins of the ethnonym were the Lithuanian forms ''*Lētuvā/Lietuva'', which were then used by different languages, including Slavic. It is very unlikely for the name to have derived from a Slavic language, since the Slavic -''i''- (и) could never be transliterated into the Lithuanian diphthong -''ie''-.

Among other etymologies of the name of Lithuania there is Artūras Dubonis's hypothesis, that Lietuva relates to the word *''leičiai'' (plural of ''leitis'', a social group in the early Grand Duchy of Lithuania). Word ''leičiai'' is still used as an ethnonym for Lithuanians, usually poetically or in historical contexts, in the Latvian language, which is closely related to Lithuanian.

See also

* Lettow
* John Lettou

References

Further reading

* Zigmas Zinkevičius. ''Lietuvių tautos kilmė''. Vilnius, 2005.

{{Lithuania topics

Cultural history of Lithuania
History of the Lithuanian language
Lithuania