Yotvingians

A map of the territory of the Yotvingians and other Baltic tribes

Yotvingians, also called Sudovians, Jatvians, or Jatvingians,Template:Efn were a Western Baltic people who were closely tied to the Old Prussians.Template:Sfn<ref name="Terra">Template:Cite book</ref> The linguist Petras Būtėnas asserts that they were closest to the Lithuanians.Template:Sfn The Yotvingians contributed to the formation of the Lithuanian state.Template:Sfn

CultureEdit

EtymologyEdit

According to Vytautas Mažiulis, the name Sūduva derives from a local hydronym *Sūd(a)vā, derived from a Baltic verbal root, *sū-: to flow, pour.Template:Sfn

LanguageEdit

Numerous linguists consider the Yotvingian language as a dialect of the Old Prussian language.Template:Sfn The Lithuanian linguist Petras Būtėnas states that such an opinion is incorrect, because the Lithuanian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} predominates in Yotvingian toponymy instead of the Old Prussian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.Template:Sfn The Lithuanian professor Zigmas Zinkevičius wrote that the Yotvingians spoke a dialect of Western Baltic that was closer to Lithuanian than Prussian.Template:Sfn The only known written source of the Yotvingian language is the manuscript "Template:Interlanguage link".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

GeographyEdit

File:Panstwo mieclawa.svg

A map showing the territory of the already partially assimilated Yotvingians in the 11th century

The Yotvingians lived in the area of Sudovia (Yotvingia) and Dainava, southwest from the upper Nemunas river. Today, this area corresponds mostly to the Podlaskie Voivodeship in Poland, portions of Lithuania west of the Nemunas and a part of Hrodna Province in Belarus. The territory was between the later cities of Marijampolė and Merkinė (Lithuania), Slonim and Kobryn (Belarus), and Białystok and Lyck in Prussia (now Ełk, Poland).

Before the 10th century, in the south, Yotvingian homesteads reached the Brest area. In the west, they reached the Narew river basin. In the north, they reached the Vilnius' and Kaunas' southern outskirts. The territory was shrinking over time.

Kurgans of Sudovian culture predate Yotvingian presence
Cmentarzysko Jacwingow, Suwalszczyzna, Aug 2004 A.jpg

A kurgan in the area of Suwałki
Cmentarzysko Jacwingow, Suwalszczyzna, Aug 2004 B.jpg

A kurgan in the area of Suwałki
Kurhan.JPG

A kurgan in the area of Jatwieź Duża

HistoryEdit

Template:More citations needed

Ancient historyEdit

According to The Histories of Herodotus (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 (Dniepr river).Template:Citation needed This was roughly the area of modern Belarus and Eastern Poland by the Narew river, coinciding with the Yotvingian linguistic territory of toponyms and hydronyms (Narew river)Template:Sfn and the Scythian Template:Sfn tribe of the Aroteres to the south-east.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD called the people Galindai kai Soudinoi (Σουδινοί). Peter of Dusburg called them Galindite and Suduwite.Template:Citation needed In the 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.Template:Citation needed

This name was taken by the papal administration: terra Jatwesouie, Gretuesia, Gzestuesie, Getuesia und Getvesia.Template:Citation needed The Knights called this tribe Sudowite, Sudowia, in qua Sudowit.Template:Sfn and the Scythian Template:Sfn tribe of the Aroteres to the south-east.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

10th centuryEdit

In 944, during the treaty between the Kievan Rus' prince Igor and the emperor of the Byzantine Empire, the Yotvingians were hired by the Kievan ruler to serve as mercenaries.Template:Citation needed In 983, Vladimir I of Kiev hired the Yotvingians to add to his army.Template:Citation needed

13th centuryEdit

File:02022 0853 Yotvingian jewellery, between 12th and 13th century, Suwalki region.jpg

12th and 13th-century Yotvingian jewellery found in the Suwalki region

File:020220103 Yatving bronze pendants, 12th - 13th century, inspired by Viking period silverworks, Jegliniec.jpg

12th and 13th-century Yotvingian bronze pendants found in Jegliniec

In two dotations, in 1253 and 1259, by Mindaugas, a new name was recorded: Dainava, Deynowe, Dainowe, Denowe (land of songs). The forests were named Deinova Jatvež.Template:Citation needed In the 1260 treaty with the Teutonic Knights, the region is called "terre Getuizintarum".Template:Citation needed Template:Clarify Skalmantas, leader of the Yotvingians was responsible for single-handedly raiding Pinsk in the Principality of Turov.

14th centuryEdit

In the sentence of Breslau of the emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg to the Livonian Order from 1325, this area is called Suderlandt alias Jetuen.Template:Citation needed

15th centuryEdit

Vytautas the Great wrote about "terra Sudorum", in a letter to King Sigismund of March 11, 1420.

A 1860 census by the clergy of the Belarus Grodno area, had 30,929 inhabitants identifying as Yatviags.Template:Sfn

20th centuryEdit

File:Yotvigia Map.svg

Map of the Yotvingian Ethnolinguistic area defined on the Western Polissia scholarly conference In April 1990.<ref name="Sfera">Цадко О. Полесье и опыт национального конструирования (1988–1995), Палітычная сфера. Гісторыя і нацыя, no.24 (1), 2016, pp. 78-93.</ref>

In the 1980s, a group of intellectuals led by Nikolai Shelyagovich emerged, which created the public-cultural association "Polesie" ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) in April 1988. Its goals were the revival of the Western Polesie language,<ref name= Slounik>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Sfera" />

In April 1990, the group held a scholarly conference in Minsk, declaring that the territories of the Brest and Pinsk regions of Belarus, the Volhynia region of Ukraine, and the Podlachia and Chełm regions of Poland were a part of the Yotvingian ethnic group.<ref name="Sfera" />

Notable YotvingiansEdit

Komantas of Sudovia led the Yotvingians in the Prussian uprisings.Template:Sfn

LiteratureEdit

Template:Cite book
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 [Indo-European languages] Лингвистический энциклопеический словарь.[Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary] Moskva, 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