# Yotvingians
> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Yotvingians
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Yotvingians.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotvingians
> Source revision: 1339063886
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
{{short description|Historical Baltic people}}
thumb|upright=1.2|A map of the territory of the Yotvingians and other Baltic tribes
'''Yotvingians''', also called '''Sudovians''', '''Jatvians''', or '''Jatvingians''',{{efn|[Yotvingian](/source/Sudovian_language): ''Jotvingai''; {{langx|lt|Jotvingiai}}, {{Lang|lt|Sūduviai}}; {{langx|ukr|Ятвяги}}; {{langx|lv|Jātvingi}}; {{langx|pl|Jaćwingowie}}, {{langx|be|Яцвягі}}, {{langx|de|Sudauer}}.}} were a [Western Baltic](/source/Western_Balts) people who were closely tied to the [Old Prussians](/source/Old_Prussians).{{Sfn|Sužiedėlis|2011|p=334}}[{{cite book |last1=Zinkevičius |first1=Zigmas |last2=Černelienė |first2=Marytė |last3=Makauskas |first3=Bronius |last4=Maksimavičius |first4=Petras |last5=Birgelis |first5=Sigitas |last6=Paransevičius |first6=Juozas Sigitas |last7=Mikėnaitė |first7=Palmira |last8=Burdinaitė-Ołów |first8=Birutė |last9=Balčiūnaitė |first9=Taida |title=Terra Jatwezenorum: Jotvingių krašto istorijos paveldo metraštis |date=2009 |publisher=[Punsko](/source/Pu%C5%84sk) „Aušros“ leidykla |url=https://punskas.pl/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Terra-2009.pdf |access-date=27 January 2023 |language=lt}}] The linguist [Petras Būtėnas](/source/Petras_B%C5%ABt%C4%97nas) once asserted that they were closest to the [Lithuanians](/source/Lithuanians_(tribe)).{{Sfn|Būtėnas|1957|p=314}} The Yotvingians contributed to the formation of the [Lithuanian state](/source/Lithuania).{{Sfn|Budreckis|1967}}
== Culture ==
=== Etymology ===
According to [Vytautas Mažiulis](/source/Vytautas_Ma%C5%BEiulis), the name Sūduva derives from a local [hydronym](/source/hydronym) ''*Sūd(a)vā'', derived from a [Baltic](/source/Baltic_languages) verbal root, ''*sū-'': to flow, pour.{{Sfn|Mažiulis|1997|pp=166–167}}
=== Language ===
Numerous linguists consider the [Yotvingian language](/source/Yotvingian_language) as a dialect of the [Old Prussian language](/source/Old_Prussian_language).{{Sfn|Sužiedėlis|2011|p=334}} The Lithuanian linguist [Petras Būtėnas](/source/Petras_B%C5%ABt%C4%97nas) states that such an opinion is incorrect, because the Lithuanian {{Lang|lt|kalnas}} predominates in Yotvingian toponymy instead of the Old Prussian {{Lang|mis|garbis}}.{{Sfn|Būtėnas|1957|p=314}} The Lithuanian professor [Zigmas Zinkevičius](/source/Zigmas_Zinkevi%C4%8Dius) wrote that the Yotvingians spoke a dialect of [Western Baltic](/source/Western_Baltic_language) that was closer to Lithuanian than Prussian.{{Sfn|Zinkevičius|1996|p=51}} The only known written source of the Yotvingian language is the manuscript "{{Interlanguage link|Pagan Dialects from Narew|lt|Pagonių šnektos iš Narevo|be-tarask|Паганскія гаворкі з Нараву}}".[{{Cite journal|last=Witczak|first=Krzysztof Tomasz|year=2015|title="The Pagan dialects from Narew" in the light of Yatvingian onomastic remnants|url=http://www.baltistukongresas.flf.vu.lt/failai/tezes/Witczak.pdf|journal=Baltic from an Indo-European Perspective|language=en|pages=43–44|archive-date=2022-10-09|access-date=2022-09-18|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.baltistukongresas.flf.vu.lt/failai/tezes/Witczak.pdf|url-status=dead}}]
== Geography ==
thumb|upright=1.2|A map showing the territory of the already partially assimilated Yotvingians in the 11th century
The Yotvingians lived in the area of [Sudovia](/source/Yotvingia) (Yotvingia) and [Dainava](/source/Dz%C5%ABkija), southwest from the upper [Nemunas river](/source/Nemunas). Today, this area corresponds mostly to the [Podlaskie Voivodeship](/source/Podlaskie_Voivodeship) in [Poland](/source/Poland), portions of [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania) west of the [Nemunas](/source/Neman) and a part of [Hrodna Province](/source/Grodno_Region) in [Belarus](/source/Belarus). The territory was between the later cities of [Marijampolė](/source/Marijampol%C4%97) and [Merkinė](/source/Merkin%C4%97) (Lithuania), [Slonim](/source/Slonim) and [Kobryn](/source/Kobryn) (Belarus), and [Białystok](/source/Bia%C5%82ystok) and Lyck in Prussia (now [Ełk](/source/E%C5%82k), Poland).
Before the 10th century, in the south, Yotvingian homesteads reached the [Brest](/source/Brest%2C_Belarus) area. In the west, they reached the [Narew](/source/Narew) river basin. In the north, they reached the [Vilnius](/source/Vilnius)' and [Kaunas](/source/Kaunas)' southern outskirts. The territory was shrinking over time.
File:Cmentarzysko Jacwingow, Suwalszczyzna, Aug 2004 A.jpg|A [kurgan](/source/kurgan) in the area of [Suwałki](/source/Suwa%C5%82ki)
File:Cmentarzysko Jacwingow, Suwalszczyzna, Aug 2004 B.jpg|A kurgan in the area of Suwałki
File:Kurhan.JPG|A kurgan in the area of [Jatwieź Duża](/source/Jatwie%C5%BA_Du%C5%BCa)
==History==
{{More citations needed|date=October 2010}}
=== Ancient history ===
According to ''The Histories'' of [Herodotus](/source/Herodotus) ''(5th century B.C.)'', the [Neuri](/source/Neuri) (Νευροί) were a tribe living beyond the [Scythian](/source/Scythians) cultivators, one of the nations along the course of the river [Hypanis](/source/Southern_Bug) (Bug river), west of the [Borysthenes](/source/Borysthenes) (Dniepr river).{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} This was roughly the area of modern Belarus and Eastern Poland by the [Narew](/source/Narew) river, coinciding with the Yotvingian linguistic territory of toponyms and hydronyms ([Narew](/source/Narew) river){{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=184}} and the [Scythian](/source/Scythians){{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=153}} tribe of the Aroteres to the south-east.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=184}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=585}}
[Ptolemy](/source/Ptolemy) in the 2nd century AD called the people ''Galindai kai Soudinoi'' (Σουδινοί). [Peter of Dusburg](/source/Peter_of_Dusburg) called them ''Galindite and Suduwite''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} In the [Hypatian Codex](/source/Hypatian_Codex) the spelling changes: ''Jatviagy, Jatviezie, Jatviažin, zemlia Jatveskaja, na zemliu Jatviažs´kuju'' and more. Polish sources also used Russian spellings: ''Jazviagi, Iazvizite, Jazvizite, Yazvizite''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}
This name was taken by the papal administration: ''terra Jatwesouie, Gretuesia, Gzestuesie, Getuesia und Getvesia''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} The Knights called this tribe ''Sudowite, Sudowia, in qua Sudowit''.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=184}} and the [Scythian](/source/Scythians){{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=153}} tribe of the Aroteres to the south-east.{{sfn|Sulimirski|1985|p=184}}{{sfn|Sulimirski|Taylor|1991|p=585}}
=== 10th century ===
In 944, during the treaty between the [Kievan Rus'](/source/Kievan_Rus') prince [Igor](/source/Igor_of_Kiev) and the emperor of the Byzantine Empire, the Yotvingians were hired by the Kievan ruler to serve as mercenaries.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} In 983, [Vladimir I of Kiev](/source/Vladimir_the_Great) hired the Yotvingians to add to his army.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}
=== 13th century ===
[[Image:02022 0853 Yotvingian jewellery, between 12th and 13th century, Suwalki region.jpg|thumb|12th and 13th-century Yotvingian jewellery found in the [Suwalki region](/source/Suwalki_region)]]
[[Image:020220103 Yatving bronze pendants, 12th - 13th century, inspired by Viking period silverworks, Jegliniec.jpg|thumb|12th and 13th-century Yotvingian bronze pendants found in [Jegliniec](/source/Jegliniec)]]
In two dotations, in 1253 and 1259, by King [Mindaugas of Lithuania](/source/Mindaugas_of_Lithuania), a new name was recorded: ''Dainava, Deynowe, Dainowe, Denowe'' (land of songs). The forests were named ''Deinova Jatvež''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}} In the 1260 treaty with the Teutonic Knights, the region is called "''terre Getuizintarum''".{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}{{clarify|reason=Gen./dat. singular or nominative plural?|date=April 2024}} [Skalmantas](/source/Komantas_of_Sudovia), leader of the Yotvingians was responsible for single-handedly raiding [Pinsk](/source/Pinsk) in the [Principality of Turov](/source/Principality_of_Turov).
=== 14th century ===
In the sentence of [Breslau](/source/Breslau) of the emperor [Sigismund of Luxembourg](/source/Sigismund_of_Luxembourg) to the Livonian Order from 1325, this area is called ''Suderlandt alias Jetuen''.{{Citation needed|date=April 2020}}
=== 15th century ===
[Vytautas the Great](/source/Vytautas_the_Great) wrote about "terra Sudorum", in a letter to [King Sigismund](/source/Sigismund%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor) of March 11, 1420.
A 1860 census by the clergy of the Belarus Grodno area, had 30,929 inhabitants identifying as Yatviags.{{Sfn|Sabaliauskas|1995|p=80}}
=== 20th century ===
[[File:Yotvigia Map.svg|thumb|Map of the Yotvingian Ethnolinguistic area defined on the Western Polissia scholarly conference In April 1990.[''Цадко О.'' [http://journal.palityka.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/04_cadko.pdf Полесье и опыт национального конструирования (1988–1995)], Палітычная сфера. Гісторыя і нацыя, no.24 (1), 2016, pp. 78-93.]]]
In the 1980s, a group of intellectuals led by [Nikolai Shelyagovich](/source/Nikolai_Shelyagovich) emerged, which created the public-cultural association ''"Polesie"'' ({{lang|be|Полісьсе}}) in April 1988. Its goals were the revival of the [Western Polesie language](/source/West_Polesian),[{{Cite web |title=Шыляговіч Мікола · Slounik.org |url=https://slounik.org/153720.html |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=slounik.org |language=be}}] recognition of the local residents of as a national minority and a national and cultural autonomy of Western Polesie. The group claimed that the residents of West Polesia were '''Yotvingians'''.'''