Sudovian language
Sudovian (otherwise known as
Jatvingian or
Yotvingian) is an
extinct western
Baltic language in
Northeastern Europe. Closely related to the
Old Prussian language, it was formerly spoken southwest of the Nemunas river, in
Galindia and
Sudovia in
East Prussia and southwest
Lithuania. Sudovia and Galindia were two of the twelve original Prussian lands. Although not actually a separate language, Sudovian/Jatvingian diverged as a dialect in the 10th century, and has been documented in writing. It was at once more archaic, and more closely influenced by Germanic languages, than other Baltic dialects, as exemplified by the loanword from Germanic,
virdan, "word" -- that preserves the neutral case ending -an, absent from Latvian and Lithuanian.
The southern Prussian districts of Sudovia and Galindia were partially overtaken and conquered by
Slavs around present-day
Białystok and
Suwałki in north-eastern
Poland and nearby
Hrodna (formerly Grodno) in
Belarus. Some elements of Baltic speech are still retained in the Belarus and
Ukraine territory, owing to resettlements of refugees and prisoners from Prussia.
*
Sudovians*
Yotvingians*
Joseph Pashka's Virdainas, a dictionary of the Sudovian (Jatvingian) language.
*
Link to reconstructed Sudovian language
