Name of Lithuania

{{short description|none}}  {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}} thumb|341px|Earliest mention of Lithuania (''Litua'', on line 7) in the entry for 1009 in the 11th-century ''Annals of Quedlinburg'', Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Q.113, fol 31r. The first known record of the name of Lithuania ({{langx|lt|Lietuva}}) was recorded in the Annals of Quedlinburg ({{langx|la|Annales Quedlinburgenses}}, written between 1008 and 1030) in a story recording events of 9 March 1009 concerning Saint Bruno.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Baranauskas |first=Tomas |date=Fall 2009 |title=On the Origin of the Name of Lithuania |url=https://www.lituanus.org/2009/09_3_02%20Baranauskas.html |journal=Lituanus |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=28–36 |issn=0024-5089 |archive-date=28 July 2021 |access-date=9 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728192142/https://www.lituanus.org/2009/09_3_02%20Baranauskas.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Chronicle recorded in the form ''Litua'' (in the phrase "in confinio Rusciæ et Lituæ a paganis capite plexus"). Although it is clear the name originated from a Baltic language,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lithuania|title=Lithuania | publisher=Dictionary.com | access-date=7 March 2018}}</ref> scholars still debate the meaning of the word.<ref name="VardasVle">{{cite web |last1=Zinkevičius |first1=Zigmas |authorlink1=Zigmas Zinkevičius |title=Lietuvos vardas |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/lietuvos-vardas/ |website=Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia |access-date=13 July 2021 |language=lt}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="VardasVle" /> The Lithuanian diphthong -''ie''- has, in Slavic languages, shifted to the vowel -''i''- ({{lang|cu|и}}), and the short -''u''- became extra-short (reduced) -''ŭ''- ({{lang|cu|ъ}}) 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.<ref name="Zigmas">{{cite journal |first=Zigmas |last=Zinkevičius |url=https://www.voruta.lt/archyvas/74/253 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510083828/https://www.voruta.lt/archyvas/74/253 |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 May 2022 |title=Lietuvos vardo kilmė |journal=Voruta |issn=1392-0677 |date=30 November 1999 |volume=3 |issue=669 |language=lt }}</ref><ref name="VardasVle" />{{vague|date=March 2022}}

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''.<ref name=ZZ>{{cite book |last=Zinkevičius |first=Zigmas |title= Senosios Lietuvos valstybės vardynas |publisher= Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Institute |year= 2007 |location=Vilnius |page=26 |isbn= 978-5-420-01606-0 |language=lt}}</ref><ref name="VardasVle"/> In this form the German letter -''e''- is used to denote the Lithuanian diphthong -''ie''-, while ''-owen'' denotes the Lithuanian hydronymic suffix -''uva'' (-''ava'').<ref name=ZZ/><ref name="VardasVle"/> 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.<ref name="VardasVle"/> For example, after becoming the ruler of Lithuania, Grand Duke Algirdas appeared as the King of Lithuania ({{langx|la|rex Letwinorum}}) in the Livonian Chronicles.<ref name="usiene">{{cite book |last1=Ūsienė |first1=Auksė |title=Lietuvos karaliai arba Lietuvos valstybės statusas XIII–XIV a.|url=https://kam.lt/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/lietuvos-karaliai.pdf|date=2013|access-date=5 September 2021 |language=lt|publisher=Lietuvos kariuomenės Karo kartografijos centras}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Baranauskas |first1=Tomas |author-link=Tomas Baranauskas |title=Medieval Lithuania – Sources 1283–1386 |url=http://viduramziu.istorija.net/en/s1283.htm |website=viduramziu.istorija.net |access-date=5 September 2021 |language=en, la |archive-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408111626/http://viduramziu.istorija.net/en/s1283.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In the Rus' chronicles,{{which one|date=March 2022}} Lithuania's name was written as {{lang|cu|Литъва}}, alongside a shortened version, {{lang|cu|Литва}} (''Litva''), where -''i''- ({{lang|cu|и}}) was already used instead of the diphthong -''ie''.<ref name="VardasVle"/> All of these names clearly originated from *''Lētuvā > Lietuva'', forms used by Lithuanians to identify their lands.<ref name=Zigmas/><ref name="VardasVle"/> The current form of the name ''Lietuva'' is thought to have been used by Lithuanians since the 12th or 13th century,<ref>[http://www.leidykla.vu.lt/inetleid/baltistic/40_1/straipsniai/str9.pdf On the Name of Lithuania], Zigmas Zinkevičius</ref> 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.<ref name="VardasVle"/>

thumb|Jogaila's seal with text ''✶ ia ‚ gal ✶ - dey ✶ gracia ✶ r - ex - in ✶ lettow'' (1382) The regalia of Grand Duke Gediminas 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.<ref name="Sajauskas81">{{cite book |last1=Sajauskas |first1=Stanislovas |title=Pirmųjų Lietuvos didžiosios kunigaikštystės monetų ypatybės [The peculiarities of the earliest Lithuanian coins] |date=2004 |publisher=M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum |location=Kaunas |page=81 |url=https://www.lb.lt/uploads/documents/docs/publications/sajauskas_2.pdf |access-date=5 September 2021 |language=lt}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Rowell133149">{{cite book |last1=Rowell |first1=Stephen Christopher |author-link=Stephen Christopher Rowell |title=Chartularium Lithuaniae res gestas magni ducis Gedeminne illustrans |date=2003 |publisher={{ill|Vaga (publisher)|lt=Vaga|lt|Vaga (leidykla)}} |location=Vilnius |isbn=5-415-01700-3 |pages=133–149 |url=https://www.epaveldas.lt/recordText/LNB/C1B0002960629/Gedimino_+laiskai.pdf?exId=315462&seqNr=2 |access-date=5 September 2021 |language=la, lt}}</ref><ref name="Sajauskas81" /> 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: {{Lang|la|S DEI GRACIA GEDEMINNI LETHWINOR ET RUTKENOR REG}} ({{langx|en|Gediminas', by the grace of God, the King of the Lithuanians and the Rus' people, seal}}).<ref name="Rowell133149" /><ref name="Sajauskas81" /><ref>{{cite web |author1= Bučys, Algimantas |title=Apie Lietuvos karalių Gediminą (I) |url=https://alkas.lt/2016/09/11/a-bucys-apie-lietuvos-karaliu-gedimina-i/ |website=Alkas.lt |access-date=5 September 2021 |language=lt |date=11 September 2016}}</ref> Authentic Jogaila's seal from 1382 has a Latin text: ''✶ ia ‚ gal ✶ – dey ✶ gracia ✶ r – ex – in ✶ lettow'' ({{langx|en|Jogaila, by the grace of God, King in Lithuania}}).<ref name="usiene"/>

Lithuania was also called the Republic of Lithuania ({{langx|la|Respublica Lituana}}) since at least the mid-16th century, already before the Union of Lublin in 1569.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kuolys |first=Darius |date=2005 |title=Lietuvos Respublika : idėjos ištakos |url=https://etalpykla.lituanistikadb.lt/object/LT-LDB-0001:J.04~2005~1367151482423/ |journal=Senoji Lietuvos literatūra |pages=157–198 |issn=1822-3656}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Savukynas |first1=Virginijus|authorlink1=Virginijus Savukynas |last2=Kuolys |first2=Darius |title=Istorijos detektyvai. Akinių atsiradimas ir knygų piratavimas Lietuvoje (from 23:51) |url=https://www.lrt.lt/mediateka/irasas/2000174669/istorijos-detektyvai-akiniu-atsiradimas-ir-knygu-piratavimas-lietuvoje |website=Lrt.lt |date=3 October 2021 |publisher=Telecast "Istorijos detektyvai" |access-date=4 October 2021 |language=lt}}</ref>

In a Lithuanian language panegyric to Sigismund III Vasa in 1589, the genitive case of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is {{Lang|lt|Lietuwos}}.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.dbc.wroc.pl/dlibra/publication/12798/edition/11194/content|title=Gratulationes Serenissimo ac Potentissimo Principi Sigismundo III|journal=Zakład Narodowy Im. Ossolińskich |year=1589|location=Vilnius|pages=50}}</ref> The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is referred to as {{Lang|lt|dides Kunigiſtes Lietuwos}} in Lithuanian within a religious Christian book from 1653.''<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2013|title=Archivum Lithuanicum|url=https://lki.lt/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/ALT_15_2013_COLOR_FINAL_4_MAZ_ILIUSTRACIJOS_2014_02_02_147MB-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf|journal=Institute of the Lithuanian Language|location=Vilnius|volume=15|pages=81}}</ref>''

<gallery class="center" widths="180" heights="180" caption="The name of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in Lithuanian"> 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 {{Lang|lt|Lietuwos}} File:Cover page of 'Knyga nobažnystės' from 1653 in Lithuanian.jpg|The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is called {{Lang|lt|dides Kunigiſtes Lietuwos}} on the cover of a Christian religious book from AD 1653 File:Manifesto of Tadeušas Kosciuška uprising in Lithuanian language; issued and distributed in Vilnius in 1794.jpg|Tadeusz Kościuszko's manifesto distributed during the Kościuszko Uprising in capital Vilnius and further in Lithuania, referring to the state as ''Didelos Kunegaykſztites Letuwos'', 1794 </gallery>

==Etymology== [[File:LT-2007-100litų-Millennium of the name of Lithuania-b.png|thumb|150px|100 litas gold commemorative coin dedicated to the millennium of Lithuania's name, minted in 2007]] 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).<ref>[http://www.eracon.info/?page=general-information Lithuania – General Information] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071110174241/http://www.eracon.info/?page=general-information |date=10 November 2007 }} ERASMUS programme Conference 2007.''"The name of Lithuania (Lietuva in Lithuanian) comes from the word "lietus" (rain)."''</ref><ref>[http://search.delfi.lt/cache.php?id=410949EA3A0BC279 The Origin of the Name of Lithuania]{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Zigmas Zinkevicius, Delfi.lt, 1999. ''"After the ineffectual efforts to find the name of Lithuania in foreign countries, it was finally associated to the Lithuanian word lietus ‘rain’, as though Lithuania were an extremely rainy land."''</ref><ref name="VardasVle"/> 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.<ref name="VardasVle"/> A likely candidate is ''Lietā''.<ref name="VardasVle"/> 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.<ref name=Zigmas2>Zigmas Zinkevičius. Kelios mintys, kurios kyla skaitant Alfredo Bumblausko Senosios Lietuvos istoriją 1009-1795m. Voruta, 2005.</ref><ref name="VardasVle"/>

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.<ref name="VardasVle"/> This river's original name is Lietava.<ref name=Zigmas2/><ref name="VardasVle"/> As time passed, the suffix -''ava'' could have changed into -''uva'', as the two are from the same suffix branch.<ref name="VardasVle"/> 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-''.<ref>[http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?single=1&basename=/data/ie/piet&text_number=++2322&root=config Indo-European Etymology]</ref><ref name="VardasVle"/> 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.<ref name=Zigmas/>

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.<ref name="VardasVle"/> 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''-.<ref name=Zigmas/><ref name="VardasVle"/>

Among other etymologies of the name of Lithuania is Artūras Dubonis's hypothesis,<ref name="Dubonis">{{Cite book|last=Dubonis|first=Artūras|title=Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio leičiai: iš Lietuvos ankstyvųjų valstybinių struktūrų praeities (Leičiai of Grand Duke of Lithuania: from the past of Lithuanian stative structures|publisher=Lietuvos istorijos instituto leidykla|location=Vilnius|year=1998|language=lt}}</ref> that Lietuva relates to the word *''leičiai'' (plural of ''leitis'', a social group in the early Grand Duchy of Lithuania).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dubonis |first1=Artūras |authorlink1=Artūras Dubonis |title=Leičiai |url=https://www.vle.lt/straipsnis/leiciai/ |website=Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia |access-date=13 July 2021 |language=lt}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Čeponis |first1=Tomas |last2=Sakalauskas |first2=Mindaugas |title=Leičiai |publisher=Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania |location=Vilnius |isbn=978-609-412-143-2 |url=https://kam.lt/download/63818/lei%C4%8Diai%20bro%C5%A1i%C5%ABra%2020x20%20lt%20internetui.pdf |access-date=13 July 2021 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Dubonis |first1=Artūras |title=LDK istorija: didžiojo kunigaikščio leičiai – etninė ar socialinė grupė? |url=https://www.15min.lt/naujiena/aktualu/istorija/ldk-istorija-didziojo-kunigaikscio-leiciai-etnine-ar-socialine-grupe-582-323859 |website=15min.lt |access-date=13 July 2021 |language=lt}}</ref><ref name="Patackas">{{cite web |last1=Patackas |first1=Algirdas |authorlink1=Algirdas Vaclovas Patackas |title=Lietuva, Lieta, Leitis, arba ką reiškia žodis "Lietuva" |url=https://www.lrytas.lt/kultura/istorija/2009/08/11/news/lietuva-lieta-leitis-arba-ka-reiskia-zodis-lietuva--5779701/ |website=lrytas.lt |access-date=13 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Dubonis |first1=Artūras |title=Lietuvos didžiojo kunigaikščio leičiai XIII–XVI a.: Lietuvių ankstyvojo feodalizmo visuomenės tyrimas |url=https://www.leitgiris.lt/leiciai.html |website=Leitgiris.lt |access-date=13 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="DubonisOrbis">{{cite web |last1=Dubonis |first1=Artūras |title=Leičiai {{!}} Orbis Lituaniae |url=https://ldkistorija.lt/pasakojimai/leiciai/ |publisher=Vilnius University |website=LDKistorija.lt |date=30 April 2020 |access-date=13 July 2021 |language=lt}}</ref> The 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.<ref name="DubonisOrbis"/><ref name="Patackas"/>

==See also== {{portal|Lithuania}} *Lettow *John Lettou

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== *Zigmas Zinkevičius. ''Lietuvių tautos kilmė''. Vilnius, 2005.

{{Europe topic|Name of|title=Names of European states and territories}} {{Lithuania topics}}

Category:Cultural history of Lithuania Category:History of the Lithuanian language Lithuania