Baltic Languages - Prehistory and History

Prehistory and History

Indo-European topics
Indo-European languages (list)
  • Albanian
  • Armenian
  • Balto-Slavic
  • Celtic
  • Germanic
  • Greek
  • Indo-Iranian
  • Italic
  • Slavic
Extinct
  • Anatolian
  • Tocharian
  • Paleo-balkan languages
Proto-Indo-European language
  • Vocabulary
  • Phonology
  • Sound laws
  • Ablaut
  • Root
  • Nominals
  • Verbs
Indo-European language-speaking peoples
Europe
  • Albanians
  • Balts
  • Celts
  • Greeks
  • Illyrians
  • Italic peoples
  • Germanic peoples
  • Thracians
  • Slavs
Asia
  • Anatolians
  • Armenians
  • Indo-Aryans
  • Iranians
  • Tocharians
Proto-Indo-Europeans
  • Homeland
  • Society
  • Religion
Indo-European archaeology
  • Abashevo culture
  • Afanasevo culture
  • Andronovo culture
  • Baden culture
  • Beaker culture
  • Catacomb culture
  • Cernavodă culture
  • Chasséen culture
  • Chernoles culture
  • Colchian
  • Corded Ware culture
  • Cucuteni-Trypillian culture
  • Dnieper-Donets culture
  • Funnelbeaker culture
  • Gumelniţa-Karanovo culture
  • Gushi culture
  • Hallstatt culture
  • Karasuk culture
  • Kemi Oba culture
  • Khvalynsk culture
  • Kura-Araxes culture
  • Lusatian culture
  • Kurgan
  • Koban
  • Leyla-Tepe culture
  • Jar-Burial
  • Jastorf culture
  • Khojaly-Gadabay
  • Maykop culture
  • Middle Dnieper culture
  • Narva culture
  • Nordic Bronze Age
  • Novotitorovka culture
  • Poltavka culture
  • Potapovka culture
  • Samara culture
  • Seroglazovo culture
  • Shulaveri-Shomu
  • Sredny Stog culture
  • Srubna culture
  • Terramare culture
  • Trialeti
  • Tumulus culture
  • Unetice culture
  • Urnfield culture
  • Usatovo culture
  • Vučedol culture
  • Yamna culture
Indo-European studies

Although the various Baltic tribes were mentioned by ancient historians as early as 98 B.C., the first attestation of a Baltic language was in about 1350, with the creation of the Elbing Prussian Vocabulary, a German to Prussian translation dictionary. It is also believed that Baltic languages are among the most archaic of the remaining Indo-European languages, despite their late attestation. Lithuanian was first attested in a hymnal translation in 1545; the first printed book in Lithuanian, a Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas was published in 1547 in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). Latvian appeared in a hymnal in 1530 and in a printed Catechism in 1585. One reason for the late attestation is that the Baltic peoples resisted Christianization longer than any other Europeans, which delayed the introduction of writing and isolated their languages from outside influence.

With the establishment of a German state in Prussia, and the eradication or flight of much of the Baltic Prussian population in the 13th century, the remaining Prussians began to be assimilated, and by the end of the 17th century, the Prussian language had become extinct.

During the years of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795), official documents were written in Polish, Ruthenian and Latin, with Lithuanian being mostly an oral language, with small quantities of written documents.

After the Partitions of Poland, most of the Baltic lands were under the rule of the Russian Empire, where the native languages were sometimes prohibited from being written down, or used publicly.

Read more about this topic:  Baltic Languages

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