Lietuvių etnogenezė ir Gudija
Lithuanian Ethnogenesis and Byelorussia

Summary/Abstract: Two monographs, The Origin of the Lithuanian Language (1984) and The Origin of the Lithuanian Nation (2005), as well as a considerable number of articles refer to the Lithuanian ethnology. New inferences have been drawn implying significant generalizations. The most important are discussed in this paper. Most issues are the results obtained by of combining historical (diachronic) linguistics and scientific data of archaeology, allowing to define more precisely chronological framework of formation of Lithuanians as a separate ethnos and to identify the area of that ethnos, especially the eastern border in the early period of formation. To this end the genetic relation of Lithuanians with the former eastern Baltic tribes become clearer. Of importance is the fact that it is already possible to elucidate the ethnogenetic affinity of Lithuanians and Byelorussians, to define the basic points of Byelorussians’ origin and at the same time to bring out the process of Savicization of Lithuanians (Balts) as well as the influence Eastern Christianity had on this process. Historically inconsistent theories that distort the role of Lithuanians and Byelorussians in forming the old-time state of Lithuania are to be disposed.

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