Table Of ContentF O R E W O R D
T O TH E PAST
A Cultural History of the Baltic People
ENDRE BOJTAR
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► C E U P R E S S
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Central European University Press
First published in Hungarian as Bevezetes a baltisztikaba by Osiris,
Budapest, 1997
English edition published in 1999 by
Central European University Press
Oktober 6. utca 12
H-1051 Budapest
Hungary
400 West 59th Street
New York, NY 10019
USA
Translated by Szilvia Redey and Michael Webb
© 1997 by Endre Bojtar
English translation © 1999 by Szilvia Redey and Michael Webb
Distributed in the United Kingdom and Western Europe by
Plymbridge Distributors Ltd., Estover Road, Plymouth, PL6 7PZ, United Kingdom
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
permission of the Publisher.
ISBN 963-9116-42-4
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available upon request
Printed in Hungary by Akademiai Nyomda Kft.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
ABBREVIATIONS............................................
LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES....................
PART ONE
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1
THE CONCEPT OF BALTIC STUDIES...................................
CHAPTER 2
THE ORIGINS AND MEANING OF THE TERM ‘BALTIC’
CHAPTER 3
ENVIRONMENT...........................................................................
CHAPTER 4
AMBER AND THE AMBER ROUTE.......................................
PART TWO
THE BALTIC TRIBES AND PEOPLES 37
CHAPTER 1
THE INDO-EUROPEAN URHEIMAT AND PROTO-LANGUAGE 39
39
1.1. Difficulties in writing about prehistory.....................................
41
1.1.1. Archaeology...................................................................................
43
1.1.2. Physical anthropology..................................................................
47
1.1.3. Language history..........................................................................
57
1.2. The Kurgan theory (M. Gimbutas)..............................................
63
1.3. The Asiatic Urheimat hypotheses..............................................
66
1.4. Language tree and diffusionism..................................................
CHAPTER 2
70
THE BALTIC URHEIMAT AND PROTO-LANGUAGE.................
70
2.1. The question of Balto-Slavic unity............................................
74
2.2. The Baltic proto-language...........................................................
77
2.3. The archaic nature of the Baltic languages...............................
80
2.4. The Baltic Urheimat......................................................................
VI CONTENTS
CHAPTER 3
THE VENET(D) QUESTION..................................................................................................... 85
CHAPTER 4
THE FIRST REFERENCES TO THE BALTS......................................................................... 98
4.1. The Budini......................................................................................................................... 101
4.2. TheNeuri........................................................................................................................... 102
4.3. The Aestii or Aisti............................................................................................................ 104
4.4. The Veits............................................................................................................................. 107
4.5. The Stavanoi....................................................................................................................... 107
4.6. The Sudini......................................................................................................................... 108
4.7. The Galindians and the Golyad’s..................................................................................... 108
4.8. The Boruski or Borusi...................................................................................................... Ill
CHAPTER 5
THE BALTIC TRIBES................................................................................................................ 113
5.1. Power relations in the Baltic region: The Viking period............................................ 113
5.2. The Couronians................................................................................................................ 116
5.3. Power relations in the Baltic region: the Slavic, Lithuanian,
and German periods......................................................................................................... 118
5.4. The conquest of Livonia................................................................................................... 122
5.5. Drang nach Os ten............................................................................................................ 126
5.6. The East Balts.................................................................................................................... 128
5.6.1. The Latvians....................................................................................................................... 128
5.6.2. The Leitis........................................................................................................................... 132
5.6.3. The Lithuanians (2emaitians and AukStaitians)......................................................... 138
5.6.4. The Zemgalians................................................................................................................ 142
5.6.5. The Selonians.................................................................................................................... 145
5.7. The West Balts.................................................................................................................. 147
5.7.1. The Prussians.................................................................................................................... 147
5.7.2. The Jatvingians.................................................................................................................. 158
CHAPTER 6
THE BALTIC PEOPLES.............................................................................................................. 164
6.1. The Prussians..................................................................................................................... 164
6.2. The Latvians....................................................................................................................... 167
6.2.1. Kurzeme............................................................................................................................. 170
6.2.2. The Duchy beyond the Daugava................................................................................... 170
6.2.3. Latgale................................................................................................................................ 172
6.3. The Lithuanians................................................................................................................ 176
6.3.1. Lithuania Minor............................................................................................................... 192
CONTENTS VII
PART THREE
BALTIC LANGUAGES AND DIALECTS 205
CHAPTER 1
207
COMMON BALTIC........................
CHAPTER 2
WEST BALTIC LANGUAGES ... 209
209
2.1. The Prussian language.........
216
2.2. The Jatvingian language...
CHAPTER 3
217
THE COURONIAN LANGUAGE
CHAPTER 4
219
EAST BALTIC LANGUAGES...
219
4.1. The Latvian language.........
224
4.2. The Latgalian language ...
225
4.3. The Lithuanian language ..
PART FOUR
BALTIC MYTHOLOGY 231
CHAPTER 1
233
PREHISTORY, FOLKLORE, MYTHOLOGY........................
CHAPTER 2
HOW FAR BACK DOES BALTIC ANTIQUITY REACH?. . 253
CHAPTER 3
267
MYTHS AND SYSTEMS OF MYTHS.....................................
CHAPTER 4
271
THE THEORY OF SOCIAL FORMATION............................
CHAPTER 5
POLYDOXY, PROTOTHEISM, POLYTHEISM.................... 275
CHAPTER 6
276
SHAMANISM...............................................................................
CHAPTER 7
278
BALTIC MYTHOLOGICAL SYSTEMS.................................
278
7.1. Baltic prototheism...........................................................
279
7.1.1. *Deivas...............................................................................
282
7.1.2. Perkunas (Perkons)...........................................................
289
7.2. Baltic polydoxy................................................................
7.2.1. Interpretatio Christiana................................................ 296
304
7.2.2. Interpretatio classica (Romana, Graeca)......................
307
7.3. Baltic‘polytheism’............................................................
308
7.3.1. The Prussian ‘gods’ of reliable sources........................
309
7.3.2. The Lithuanian ‘gods’ of reliable sources....................
312
7.3.3. The Prussian ‘Pantheon’..................................................
316
7.3.4. The Lithuanian‘pantheon’..............................................
CONTENTS
Baltic cults......................................................................................... 318
5 ; I-Ns................................................................................................................................... 318
5 2 Sar.ctuaries............................................. 319
s I Rornova............................................................................................................................ 320
$■2.2 The sanctuary of Vilnius (The legends of Sventaragis and Gediminas).................. 321
S 3 Priests................................................................................................................................ 326
5 3 I Sicco.................................................................................................................................. 326
5 3 2. The tuliss and thel igash................................................................................................... 327
5 3 3 The sovij (an addition to the Malalas Chronicle) ...................................................... 330
5 3 4 Krive.................................................................................................................................. 337
5 3 5 Kunigas.............................................................................................................................. 339
5 3 6 Zynys. waidelott, Wisten, macTtajs............................................................................... 340
PART FIVE
CONCLUSION
OWN AND ALIEN IN HISTORY 343
BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................................... 357
INDEX...................................................................................................................................... 405
FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH EDITION
This book is, for the most part, an unchanged version of my book Bevezetes a
baltisztikaba: A balti kultura a regisegben [Introduction to Baltic Studies: Baltic
culture in Antiquity] which appeared in Hungary in 1997. In places I felt marginal
modifications and extensions were necessary—only, however, to the extent of
a few sentences, or at most, some paragraphs. I omitted references of purely
Hungarian concern, but I added a number of works that I came across after the
Hungarian edition was published. These include Arnold 1967, Boockmann 1992,
Dubonis 1997, Gudavicius 1998, Kahle 1986, Nowak 1983, Pistohlkors 1994,
Schaudinn 1937, and Schlesinger 1975.
There were two issues I felt I needed to amend to more forcibly represent my
standpoint. One is the question of ethnogenetics. I sought to counterbalance my
lack of expertise by referring to a number of studies which might help the
orientation of the reader. These include Cavalli-Sforza-Cavalli-Sforza 1995,
Haeseler - Sajantila - Paabo 1996, Hausler 1997, Julku 1997, Niskanen 1997,
Paabo 1995, Sajantila et al. 1996, Sajantila-Paabo 1995, and Villems et al. 1997.
The other question—more important with regard to the book’s topic—concerns
the emergence of the state structure of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Middle
Ages, and the related problem of the Leitis people. The highly significant studies
published by J. Kazlauskas 1995 and A. Dubonis 1998 on these issues have opened
new perspectives in the research of Baltic ethnonyms.
Endre Bojtar
Budapest, June 1999
ABBREVIATIONS
acc. accusative instr. instrumental
adj. adjective Latv. Latvian
adv. adverb Lith. Lithuanian
CHS. Church Slavonic nom. nominative
Cz. Czech OEng. Old English
Dan. Danish OGer. Old German
dat. dative OHG Old High German
Engl. English OLat. Old Latin
ESlav. East Slavic OPol. Old Polish
Finn. Finnish OSlav. Old Slavic
FP Finno-Permic PFU proto-Finno-Ugric
Fr. French PIE proto-Indo-European
FU Finno-Ugric pi. plural
gen. genitive Polab. Polabian
Ger. German Pruss. Prussian
Gk. Greek Russ. Russian
Gmn. Germanic Sem. Semitic
Goth. Gothic sing. singular
Hitt. Hittite Toch. Tocharian
IE. Indo-European Umbr. Umbrian
Ill Illyrian Ved. Vedic
imp. imperative Ven. Venetic
inf. infinitive voc. vocative
LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES
Front endpaper
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 15th century
Rear endpaper
The Latvian Republic
The Lithuanian Republic
Map 1. Baltic tribes in the thirteenth century - 13
Map 2. Baltic place names - 54
Map 3. The migrations of the Venets and the Veneds - 86
Map 4. The migrations of the Galindians and Golyad’s - 110
Map 5. The migrations of the East Baltic tribes - 146
Map 6. Prussian lands in the thirteenth century - 159
Map 7. The partition of the Baltic in the fifteenth-eighteenth centuries - 177
Figure 1. The Balto-Slavic unity (Karaliunas, 1968, 5) - 72
Figure 2. The Indo-European linguistic family - 73
Figure 3. The evolution of the Baltic linguistic family - 76
Figure 4. The splintering of the Indo-European linguistic family — 81
“Nur einige Sagen, wie fremde Boten aus einer
andern Welt, kommen aus dem Dunkel dieser
altesten Zeiten zu uns heruber.”
(Johannes Voigt, Geschichte Preussens)
“Like alien delegates from another world, out
of the darkness of those ancient times, only a
few legends reach us.”
