Yotvingians (also called: Sudovians, Jatvians, or Jatvingians; Yotvingian: ''Jotvingai''; lt, Jotvingiai, ; lv, Jātvingi; pl, Jaćwingowie, be, Яцвягі, ger, Sudauer) were a Western Baltic people who were closely tied to the Old Prussians. The linguist

Petras Būtėnas Petras Būtėnas (27 June 1896 – 4 October 1980) was a Lithuanian linguist and public figure. His work was very important in the research of Lithuanian culture. Early life He had a younger brother . Interwar From 1919 to 1923, he was a ...

asserts that they were closest to the

Lithuanians Lithuanians ( lt, lietuviai) are a Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another million or two make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Uni ...

. The Yotvingians contributed to the formation of the Lithuanian state. Yotvingians had a strong warrior culture and were generally well known as great warriors and hunters, and were feared by their neighbours for their skill in

warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...

. The Yotvingians were referred to in regional historical records into the 19th century.

Culture

Etymology

According to

Vytautas Mažiulis Vytautas Juozapas Mažiulis (August 20, 1926 in Rokėnai – April 11, 2009 in Vilnius) was a highly distinguished Lithuanian Balticist, an expert on the Old Prussian language and Indo-European languages.hydronym ''*Sūd(a)vā'', in turn derived from a

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

verbal root ''*sū-'': to flow, pour. A. S. Kibin proposed Yotvingian, or the "Slavic Jatviagi as the group name goes back to O. N. patronymic derivative játvingar meaning "the descendants of Játvígr", or "the people of Játvígr"" - "the name Játvígr mentioned by Knytlinga saga". J. Pashka, acknowledging Kibin's proposal, has similarly interpreted the ethnonym as derived from the Old Norse ''Játvígr'', with a genitive ''Játvígs'' liðsmenn (ᛃᚨᛏᚢᛁᚴᛋ ᚱᛟᚦᛋ) label of Játvígr's Viking expedition and his Norse Rus' settlers ( i.e. Indura, Belarus ) by the Nemunas river. Pashka asserts the nasal infixation in the original Old Norse ''Játvíg'' name of the 944-945 Kiev Treaty was probably an insignificant scribal error or misinterpretation, that has survived to the present.

Language

Numerous linguists consider the

Yotvingian language Sudovian (also known as Yotvingian, or Jatvingian) was a Western Baltic language of Northeastern Europe. Sudovian was closely related to Old Prussian. It was formerly spoken southwest of the Nemunas river in what is now Lithuania, east of Galind ...

as a dialect of the Old Prussian language. The Lithuanian linguist

states that such an opinion is incorrect, because the Lithuanian predominates in Yotvingian toponymy instead of the Old Prussian . The Lithuanian professor Zigmas Zinkevičius also wrote that the Yotvingians spoke a dialect of Western Baltic that was closer to Lithuanian than Prussian. The only known written source of the Yotvingian language is "" manuscript.

Geography

The Yotvingian lived in the area of Sudovia (Yotvingia) and Dainava, southwest from the upper Nemunas. Today this area corresponds mostly to the

Podlaskie Voivodeship Podlaskie Voivodeship or Podlasie Province ( pl, Województwo podlaskie, ) is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland. The name of the province and its territory correspond to the historic region of Podlachia. The capital and largest cit ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, portions 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 ...

and a part of Hrodna Province in

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 R ...

. The territory was between later the Marijampolė and

Merkinė Merkinė is a town in the Dzūkija National Park in Lithuania, located at the confluence of the Merkys, Stangė, and Neman (river), Nemunas rivers. Merkinė is one of the oldest settlements in Lithuania. The first settlers inhabited the confluence ...

(Lithuania);

Slonim Slonim ( be, Сло́нім, russian: Сло́ним, lt, Slanimas, lv, Sloņima, pl, Słonim, yi, סלאָנים, ''Slonim'') is a city in Grodno Region, Belarus, capital of the Slonimski rajon. It is located at the junction of the Ščar ...

and Kobryn (Belarus); and

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

, and Lyck, in Prussia now Ełk (Poland). File:Cmentarzysko Jacwingow, Suwalszczyzna, Aug 2004 A.jpg, A Yotvingian kurgan in the area of Suvalkai File:Cmentarzysko Jacwingow, Suwalszczyzna, Aug 2004 B.jpg, A Yotvingian kurgan in the area of Suvalkai File:Kurhan.JPG, A Yotvingian kurgan in the area of Jatwieź Duża

History

Ancient history

According to ''The Histories'' of

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

''(5th century B.C.)'', the Neuri Νευροί were a tribe living beyond the Scythian cultivators, one of the nations along the course of the river Hypanis (Bug river), west of the

Borysthenes Borysthenes (; grc, Βορυσθένης) is a geographical name from classical antiquity. The term usually refers to the Dnieper River and its eponymous river god, but also seems to have been an alternative name for Pontic Olbia, a town situate ...

(Dniepr river). This was roughly the area of modern Belarus and Eastern Poland by the

Narew The Narew (; be, Нараў, translit=Naraŭ; or ; Sudovian: ''Naura''; Old German: ''Nare''; uk, Нарва, translit=Narva) is a 499-kilometre (310 mi) river primarily in north-eastern Poland, which is also a tributary of the river Vis ...

river, coinciding with the Yotvingian linguistic territory of toponyms and hydronyms (

river).

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

in the 2nd century AD called the people ''Galindai kai Soudinoi'' (Σουδινοί).

Peter of Dusburg Peter of Dusburg (german: Peter von Dusburg; la, Petrus de Dusburg; died after 1326), also known as Peter of Duisburg, was a Priest-Brother and chronicler of the Teutonic Knights. He is known for writing the ''Chronicon terrae Prussiae'', which des ...

called them ''Galindite and Suduwite''. In the Hypatian Codex the spellings are changing: ''Jatviagy, Jatviezie, Jatviažin, zemlia Jatveskaja, na zemliu Jatviažs´kuju'' and more. Polish sources also used Russian spellings: ''Jazviagi, Iazvizite, Jazvizite, Yazvizite''. This name was taken by the papal administration: ''terra Jatwesouie, Gretuesia, Gzestuesie, Getuesia und Getvesia''. The Knights called this tribe ''Sudowite, Sudowia, in qua Sudowit''.

10th century

In 944, during the treaty between the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

prince Igor and the emperor of the Byzantine Empire, the Yotvingians were hired by the Kievan ruler to serve as mercenaries. Also Vladimir I of Kiev, in 983, hired the Yotvingians to add to his army.

13th century

In two dotations (1253 and 1259) of

Mindaugas Mindaugas (german: Myndowen, la, Mindowe, orv, Мендог, be, Міндоўг, pl, Mendog, c. 1203–1263) is the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or r ...

, a new name was recorded: ''Dainava, Deynowe, Dainowe, Denowe'' (land of songs). The forests were named ''Deinova Jatvež''. In the treaty with the Teutonic Knights in 1260, the region is called "''terre Getuizintarum''".

Skalmantas Skalmantas or Skolomend is the name of a possible ancestor of the Gediminid dynasty. In 1975 historian Jerzy Ochmański noted that ''Zadonshchina'', a poem from the end of the 14th century, contains lines in which two sons of Algirdas name their anc ...

, leader of the Yotvingians was responsible for single-handedly raiding Pinsk in the

Principality of Turov The Principality of Turov, also called Principality of Turov and Pinsk ( be, Турава-Пінскае княства, russian: Турово-Пинское княжество, uk, Турово-Пінське князівство) or Turovian Rus ...

14th century

In the sentence of Breslau of the emperor

Sigismund of Luxembourg Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia (''jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1 ...

to the Livonian Order from 1325, this area is called ''Suderlandt alias Jetuen''.

15th century

Vytautas the Great Vytautas (c. 135027 October 1430), also known as Vytautas the Great ( Lithuanian: ', be, Вітаўт, ''Vitaŭt'', pl, Witold Kiejstutowicz, ''Witold Aleksander'' or ''Witold Wielki'' Ruthenian: ''Vitovt'', Latin: ''Alexander Vitoldus'', O ...

wrote about "terra Sudorum", in a letter to

King Sigismund Sigismund of Luxembourg (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was a monarch as King of Hungary and Croatia (''jure uxoris'') from 1387, King of Germany from 1410, King of Bohemia from 1419, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until his death in 1 ...

of March 11, 1420. A census by the clergy of the Belarus Grodno area in 1860 had as many as 30,929 inhabitants identifying as Yatviags.

Historical persons

Komantas of Sudovia Komantas or Skomantas (known in Ruthenian sources as ''Komat'', in Latin ''Koommat'', in German ''Skomand'' and ''Skumand''; ca. 1225(?) – after 1285) was a powerful duke and pagan priest of the Yotvingians, one of the early Baltic tribes (accord ...

led the Yotvingians in the Prussian uprisings.

Literature

* *Witczak, K. T., ''Traces of Dual Forms in Old Prussian and Jatvingian in Woljciech Smoczynski and Axel Holvoet'', eds, Colloquium Pruthenicum primum, 1992, pp 93–98 *Gerullis, G., ''Zur Sprache der Sudauer-Jadwinger'', in Festschrift A. Bezzenberger, Göttingen 1927 *Toporov,V., ''ИНДОЕВРОПЕЙСКЕ ЯЗЫКИ'' ndo-European languagesЛингвистический энциклопеический словарь. inguistic encyclopedic dictionaryMoskva, 1990, pp 186–189 *Mažiulis, V., ''Baltic languages''. Britannica Online Encyclopedia *Henning, E., ''De rebus Jazygum sive Jazuin-gorum'', Regiomonti, 1812 *Sjoegren, A., ''Ueber die Wohnsitz Verhaeltnisse und der Jatwaeger'', St. Petersburg, 1859 *Sembrzycki, J., ''Die Nord-und Westgebiete the Jadwinger und deren Grenzen'', Altpreussischeme Monatschrift, XXVIII, 1891, pp. 76–89 *W. R. Schmalstieg, ''Studies in Old Prussian'', University Park and London, 1976. *V. Toporov, ''Prusskij jazyk: Slovar, A - L, Moskva, 1975–1990. *V. Mažiulis, ''Prūsų kalbos etimologijos žodynas'', Vilnius, t. I-IV, 1988–1997. * Archäologie der UDSSR: Die Finno-Ugrier und die Balten im Mittelalter, Teil II, Balten, S. 411–419, Moskau 1987 * Lepa, Gerhard (Hrsg): Die Sudauer, in Tolkemita-Texte Nr. 55, Dieburg 1998 * Lepa, Gerhard: Gedanken über die Prußen und ihre Lieder, in Tolkemita-Texte "25 Lieder der Sudauer" Nr. 56, Dieburg 1999 * Litauische Enzyklopädie, Bd. XXVX, Boston, USA, 1963 * Salemke, Gerhard: Lagepläne der Wallburganlagen von der ehemaligen Provinz Ostpreußen, Gütersloh, 2005, Karten 19/ 7 - 19/ 13 * Žilevičius, Juozas: Grundzüge der kleinlitauischen Volksmusik, in Tolkemita-Texte "25 Lieder der Sudauer" Nr. 56, Dieburg 1999

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * DUSBURG (PETRI DE DUSBURG), ''Chronicon Prussiae'', ed. Chr. Hartknock, Jena, 1879 * * * * *

External links

M. Gimbutas book on the Balts, with maps
{{prussian clans Historical ethnic groups of Europe People from Prussia proper Historical Baltic peoples