Editing Mordvins (section)

===Early references===
The ethnonym ''Mordva'' is possibly attested in [[Jordanes]]' ''[[Getica]]'' in the form of ''Mordens'' who, he claims, were among the subjects of the Gothic king [[Ermanaric]].<ref>(Getica XIII, 116) "Among the tribes he [Ermanarich] conquered were the Golthescytha, Thiudos, Inaunxis, Vasinabroncae, Merens, Mordens, Imniscaris, Rogas, Tadzans, Athaul, Navego, Bubegenae and Coldae" — ''The Origin and Deeds of the Goths'' (116).</ref> A land called ''Mordia'' at a distance of ten days journey from the [[Petchenegs]] is mentioned in [[Constantine VII]]'s ''De administrando imperio''.<ref name="TLA">{{Cite book|title=The Linguistic Affinity of the Volgaic Finno-Ugrians and Their Ethnogenesis |last=Klima |first=László |year=1996 |publisher=Societas Historiae Fenno-Ugricae |isbn=978-951-97040-1-2 |url=http://mek.oszk.hu/01700/01794/01794.pdf}}</ref>

In medieval European sources, the names ''Merdas, Merdinis, Merdium, Mordani, Mordua, Morduinos'' have appeared. In the Russian [[Primary Chronicle]], the ethnonyms ''Mordva'' and ''mordvichi'' first appeared in the 11th century. After the [[Mongol invasion of Rus']], the name Mordvin rarely gets mentioned in Russian annals, and is only quoted after the Primary Chronicle up until the 15th–17th centuries.<ref>(Kirjanov 1971, 148–149) Laslo</ref><ref>Kappeler (1982) Taagepera</ref>