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Re: [conculture] Names of countries and national languages

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Sunday, September 23, 2007, 10:28
Quoting caeruleancentaur <caeruleancentaur@...>:

> >Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote: > > >>Quoting Jeff Rollin <jeff.rollin@...>: > > >>An old word for Lithuanian (or is it Latvian?) in English > >>is "Lettish". > > >Latvian. But I have always assumed "Latvian" and "Lettish" are from > >the same root; anybody know? Of course, "Lithuania" is also > >suspiciously similar ... > > From Wikipedia: > > Modern scholars tend to connect this name with the Latin "litus" (see > littoral), but no proof exists of any similar regional > hydronym. "Litve", a Latin variant of the toponym, appears in a 1009 > chronicle describing an archbishop "struck over the head by pagans in > Lituae". A 16th-century scholar associated the word with the Latin > word "litus" (tubes) — a possible reference to wooden trumpets played > by Lithuanian tribesmen. The country name "Latvia" and its > region "Latgalia" may share the etymology of "Lithuania". A popular > belief is that the country's name in Lithuanian language (Lietuva) is > derived from a word "lietus" (rain), and means "a rainy place".
Clear as Baltic mud, then! Latgalia/Latgale is "Lettgallen" in German and Swedish, which nicely parallels Latvija : Lettland. The English "Lettish", btw, is surely from German _lettisch_. Andreas