Name of Lithuania

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. The Lithuanian diphthong -ie- has, in Slavic languages, shifted to the vowel -i- (и), and the short -u- became extra-short (reduced) -ŭ- (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.

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. In this form the German letter -e- is used to denote the Lithuanian diphthong -ie-, while -owen denotes the Lithuanian hydronymic suffix -uva (-ava). 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. For example, after becoming the ruler of Lithuania, Grand Duke Algirdas appeared as the King of Lithuania (Latin: rex Letwinorum) in the Livonian Chronicles.

In the Rus' chronicles, Lithuania's name was written as Литъва, alongside a shortened version, Литва (Litva), where -i- (и) was already used instead of the diphthong -ie. All of these names clearly originated from *Lētuvā > Lietuva, forms used by Lithuanians to identify their lands. The current form of the name Lietuva is thought to have been used by Lithuanians since the 12th or 13th century, 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.

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. 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. 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: S DEI GRACIA GEDEMINNI LETHWINOR ET RUTKENOR REG (English: Gediminas', by the grace of God, the King of the Lithuanians and the Rus' people, seal). Authentic Jogaila's seal from 1382 has a Latin text: ✶ ia ‚ gal ✶ – dey ✶ gracia ✶ r – ex – in ✶ lettow (English: Jogaila, by the grace of God, King in Lithuania).

Lithuania was also called the Republic of Lithuania (Latin: Respublica Lituana) since at least the mid-16th century, already before the Union of Lublin in 1569.

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.

In a Lithuanian language panegyric to Sigismund III Vasa in 1589, the genitive case of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is Lietuwos. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is referred to as dides Kunigiſtes Lietuwos in Lithuanian within a religious Christian book from 1653.