Litvin is a Slavic word for all residents of

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

(Slavic: ''Litva''), which was the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

in the 13th–18th centuries, and began to be used no later than the 16th century mostly by the

East Slavs The East Slavs are the most populous subgroup of the Slavs. They speak the East Slavic languages, and formed the majority of the population of the medieval state Kievan Rus', which they claim as their cultural ancestor.John Channon & Robert Huds ...

. Currently, Litvin or its

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

s are used in many European languages for

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

Meanings

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

In the 16–18th centuries, the term "Litvin" was mostly used by

to refer to all inhabitants of Lithuania, i.e. Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Вячаслаў Насевіч
Літвіны
// Вялікае княства Літоўскае: Энцыклапедыя. У 2 т. / рэд. Г. П. Пашкоў і інш.Т. 2: Кадэцкі корпус — Яцкевіч. — Мінск: Беларуская Энцыклапедыя, 2005. С. 206—208. Several authentic sources, surviving from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, with expressed opinion of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania themselves prove that the

(founders,

rulers A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the inst ...

from the

Gediminids The House of Gediminas (), or simply the Gediminids, were a dynasty of monarchs in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reigned from the 14th to the 16th century. A cadet branch of this family, known as the Jagiellonian dynasty, reigned also in th ...

dynasty) were those who spoke

Old Lithuanian Lithuanian (, ) is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of the European ...

and originated from the

cultural regions In anthropology and geography, a cultural area, cultural region, cultural sphere, or culture area refers to a geography with one relatively homogeneous human activity or complex of activities (culture). Such activities are often associa ...

of ''

Aukštaitija Aukštaitija (; literally ''Highland'' or ''Upland'') is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from the fact that the lands are in the upper basin of the Nemunas, as opposed to the Lowlands that begin from Š ...

'' and ''

Žemaitija Samogitia, often known by its Lithuanian name ''Žemaitija'' ( Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five cultural regions of Lithuania and formerly one of the two core administrative divi ...

'', while their Eastern neighbours were

Rus' people The Rus, also known as Russes, were a people in early medieval Eastern Europe. The scholarly consensus holds that they were originally Norsemen, mainly originating from present-day Sweden, who settled and ruled along the river-routes between t ...

(

Ruthenians A ''Ruthenian'' and ''Ruthene'' are exonyms of Latin language, Latin origin, formerly used in Eastern and Central Europe as common Ethnonym, ethnonyms for East Slavs, particularly during the late medieval and early modern periods. The Latin term ...

Ethnic group in Ukraine

Litvins are a small ethnic group in the area of the mid-stream

Desna River The Desna ( Russian and ) is a river in Russia and Ukraine, a major left-tributary of the Dnieper. Its name in means "right hand". It has a length of , and its drainage basin covers .Litvins of the Ukraine North are possibly a fragment of legendary tribe of Siverians (Литвини півночі України - ймовірний уламок племені літописних Сіверян)
'. "Landmarks of Ukraine". 2001. The poet-monk who published several cultural studies noted that Litvins, perhaps after an older pagan tradition, worked on Sundays and rested on Fridays. More notes about Litvins were provided at the end of the 18th century by historians of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

and . According to Markovych, Litvins are a regional group such as Gascons in France or

Swabians Swabians ( , singular ''Schwabe'') are a Germans, German ethnographic group native to the region of Swabia, which is mostly divided between the modern states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately de ...

in Germany. The name Litvin (Litvyak) owes its origin to political factors and is a

demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

(politonym) referencing the

. Litvins in the Chernihiv region (

Chernihiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 sett ...

) call themselves Ruski, but not Moskals or Katsaps. They consider the term Litvin to be derogatory. According to the 2001 census, there were 22 Litvins in Ukraine.

Modern usage in Belarus

Since the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in 1991, the term "Litvin" has been adopted by some Belarusian nationalists to claim the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as Belarusian. This is an alternative to the

"Belarusians" which is derived from White Rus' and, therefore, implies that it is somehow less than the

Great Russia Great Russia, sometimes Great Rus' ( , ; , ; , ), is a name formerly applied to the territories of "Russia proper", the land that formed the core of the Grand Duchy of Moscow and later the Tsardom of Russia. This was the land to which the e ...

. Some Belarusians like Mikola Yermalovich and Viktor Veras () claim that the Grand Duchy was Belarusian and that modern

are "historical

Samogitians Samogitians ( Samogitian: ''žemaitē'', , ) are the inhabitants of Samogitia, an ethnographic region of Lithuania. Many speak the Samogitian language, which in Lithuania is mostly considered a dialect of the Lithuanian language together with t ...

" (the term

Samogitia Samogitia, often known by its Lithuanian language, Lithuanian name ''Žemaitija'' (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see Samogitia#Etymology and alternative names, below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five ...

translates as Lowlands of

Lithuania proper Lithuania proper refers to a region that existed within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania where the Lithuanian language was spoken. The primary meaning is identical to the Duchy of Lithuania, a land around which the Grand Duchy of Lithuania evolved. T ...

) who, despite being "not Lithuanians", somehow managed to usurp the name "Lithuania" for themselves. In other words, these writers in contrast to Lithuanian linguists claim that modern Belarusians are "the true Lithuanians" referred to in historical texts and not "modern Lithuanians". This theory is considered fringe and is not accepted by historians. During the 2009 census, 66 people identified themselves as Litvins in

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Modern usage in Poland

The

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

still use the words ''Litwini'' and ''Litwa'' when referring to the

and

respectively. While the

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

and

are named as ''Białorusini'' and ''Białoruś'' respectively in Polish.

Modern usage in Ukraine

The

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

nowadays refer to Lithuania as «» (''Lytva'') in Ukrainian, which is its historic name from the

, and to the

as «» (''lytovtsi''). The

is called (''Velyke kniazivstvo Lytovske'').

Notes

a. ; ; ; ; b. ; ; ;

References

External links

* Litvin, I
''"Our "Lost world". Selected pages of Belarusian history'' ("Наш "Затерянный мир". Некоторые страницы белорусской истории")
{{in lang, ru

Demographic history of Lithuania Ethnic groups in Ukraine Slavic ethnic groups Social history of Belarus Social history of Ukraine