LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXXII (1993)

BALTŲ ONOMASTIKOS TYRINĖJIMAI

ALEKSANDRAS VANAGAS

THE NAMES OF OUR CITIES

At present, we could count about 300 cities, urban-type settlements, and towns in Lithuania. These settlements have had varying fortunes. Some are several hundred years old, others only a few decades. Some were more important in the past, others are so now. Some have old, endlessly interesting names that are often very difficult to explain; others have names with simple, indisputable, obvious etymologies. About 60 oikonyms are examined here. Naturally, it would be pointless to seek clearer criteria for their selection. For one thing, only a small proportion of city names is examined, and for another, this article is merely part of a larger work, so the principles of selection will be discussed on another occasion. It can perhaps only be emphasized that the place names selected for examination include not only those with clear etymologies and formations, but also ones that are more problematic and complex.

Alytus (4). One of the oldest cities in Lithuania. A document from as early as 1387 calls it a town (3; 1)*, while in 1466 it is described as a district, ”У Олитской волости” — (8: 83). In 1581 it received Magdeburg rights.

There have been various opinions about the origin of the city’s name. For example, J. Otrębski thought that Alytus was formed from the vowel a- and the root lyt-. This, however, is clearly mistaken. There is no doubt that the root is al-, while -yt- is a suffix typical of Lithuanian. The only uncertainty is how the city’s name arose—directly from the corresponding common noun or from a hydronym. There is no river or lake name *Alylus today. However, a stream called Alytupis flows into the Nemunas past Alytus. Most likely, this is a later name formed from a genitive construction such as *Alytaus upė ‘Alytus River’. The original, older form of the stream’s name was apparently *Alytus. Thus, the city’s name, Alytus, most likely arose from the river name *Alytus. In other words, the river name became the city name without any change. This type of formation of settlement names is especially characteristic of Lithuanian: Dysnà river: Dysnà village, Dūkštas lake: Dūkštas town, Jiesià river: Jiesià village, Júodupė river: Júodupė village, Nóva river: Nóva village, Obelijà lake: Obelijà village, Raudónė river: Raudónė town, Rùsnė river: Rùsnė town, Rìmietis lake: Rìmietis village, Šventėžeris lake: Šventėžeris town, Upýna river: Upýna town, Ventà river — Ventà town, Vištytis lake: Vištytis town, and so on.

* The opinion that the earlier form of the river and city name was not Alytus but *Alyta (10: 181) cannot, for the time being, be fully confirmed. Indeed, historical

* Quotations, sources, and authors are indicated in the following order: in parentheses, the first Arabic numeral denotes the reference number of the author or source in the bibliography, the Roman numeral denotes the volume number, and the second Arabic numeral denotes the page.

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sources, Alytùs is written Olita, Ošuma, and so on, so it is not impossible that *Alyta later became Alytàs (much as the city name Vílnia changed to Vílnius). On the other hand, however, it could also have happened the other way around (in this case, of course), especially since place names with the stressed ending -ùs are particularly common in southern Lithuania: Guostùs lake, Aukštdvarýs; Kriùšiùs river, Alovė, Aukštdvarýs; Butrimonys; Ūdrija; Niedùs lake, Kapčiamiestis; Skirziùs lake, Leipalingis; Skroblùs river, Merkinė; Svetùs river, Daugai; Švenčionys lake, Aukštdvarýs, Onuškis; Teirùs lake, Veisiejai; Vardžiùs river, Ūdrija; Vikšrùs river, Seirijai, and so on.

Antálipe (1). A locality Заантоленцы is mentioned in a 16th-century inventory, a copy of which was made between 1580 and 1620 (57: 1, 10). K. Jablonskis (ibid., 1), and later other authors (6: I 601), “translated” it as Užantalieptėnai. The settlement is referred to as a town from 1675 onward (6: I 601; 4: I).

The name is formed from the prefix anta-, characteristic of northeastern dialects, and the root liept-. More such prefixed place names are known, but most are derivatives with the prefix anta- from hydronyms: Antá-gavė village, Ignalina district: Gavys lake; Anta-ìlgis village, Molėtai district: Ilgis lake; Antá-kriaunis village, Rokiškis district: Kriaunà river; Antá-lamėstė village, Utena district: Lamėstas lake; Antá-liedė village, Švenčionys district: Liedis lake; Antá-zavė village, Zarasai district—from *Anta-zalvė: Zálvė lake, Zalvys lake, etc. (9: 243). Derivatives from common nouns are fewer, but they do occur. One is the village name Antá-tilčiai in the Žemaitkiemis area of Ukmergė district: the prefix anta- and the common noun tiltas ‘bridge’. The settlement Antá-tilčiai apparently developed by a bridge. Antá-lieptė, formed from anta- and lieptas ‘footbridge’, would be a perfect parallel to Antá-tilčiai. In this case too, the village apparently developed by a footbridge. This is entirely plausible, since Antaliep-tė lies by the Šventoji River, on its bank, where there may well once have been a footbridge. All the more so because, according to the elderly, Antaliepte formerly had another name—Lieptinė (6: I 601). This is again quite plausible, since the existence of such a name is supported by other similar place names; compare Lieptinė meadow in Trinkųškiai village, Degučiai district; a meadow in Likiškiai village, Alytus district; Lieptinis meadow in Kabeliai village, Alytus district.

Ariógala (1). One of the oldest settlements in Lithuania, known at least since 1253 as Fregalle. The sources first mention the land of Ariogala, and in Vytautas’s time there was an Ariogala manor. In 1781 the town received Magdeburg rights (6: II 412–413; 55: 43).

This is a compound place name, formed from ar- and -gala with the linking vowel o. More settlement names of this type are known: Baisógala, Daukšiògala, Dievògala, Eiriògala, Gerdžiògala, Gimbògala, Saudògala, Tendžiògala, Vytògala. Their second element, -gala, is derived from Lithuanian “galas,” meaning “end, area, region.” Interestingly, a similar explanation was already given in the “Alphabetical Index” to G. Volovičius’s “Revizija pušč...” and other books of records, published in 1873: ”Ойрагала без всякого сомнения, происходит отъ следующих Литовско—Латышских словъ: орас, ара, ape, что значитъ — внешнее, открытое место (поляна, поле), дача, фальварокъ; и отъ галаса, галсъ — конецъ, оконечность, край, угола. Отсюда ближайшее значение Ойраго-лы может быть — буквально: дачный конецъ, а въ более широкомъ значении — конецъ какого либо имения, новый приселокъ и т. под. (93: 71). Thus the original meaning of Ariógá-la may have been ‘someone’s region,’

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end, outskirts, or the like. It is simply unclear whose, since the origin of the first component raises various doubts. It is understandable that ar- cannot be linked with Lithuanian óras ‘weather’, because phonetics argues against such a connection (ar-: or-; Latvian ars, ara correspond to Lithuanian óras). Moreover, the spellings in the sources are not uniform—ar- also occurs where ar- is expected. Indeed, the western tradition seems not to have known the diphthong from the earliest records: Eregalle 1253, Ergal­le 1257 (55: 43), Erogel 1294 (28: I 158), Erogel 1306 (ibid., 173), Erogelin 1322 (ibid., 186), Arogel 1322 (ibid., 287), Erogin 1336? (ibid., 537), Eroglən (ibid., 600), Eragelen 1367 (28: II 89), Eragelen 1370 (ibid., 97), Eragelen 1370 (ibid., 98), Aragel 1377 (ibid., 167), Eroglen 1348 (ibid., 513), Eroglen 1352 (ibid., 516), Eroglen 1355 (ibid., 521), Eroglen 1364 (ibid., 541), Eroglen 1364 (ibid., 549), Eroglen 1366 (ibid., 557), Eroglen 1367 (ibid., 559), Eroglen 1370 (ibid., 569), Eroglen 1372 (ibid., 571), Eroglense 1375 (ibid., 579), Eroglen 1378 (ibid., 588), Eroglen 1395 (ibid., 676), Erogel 1394 (ibid., 680), Erogelin 1384 (ibid., 685), Grogil, Erogel 1377 (28: III 106), Erogin 1405 (ibid., 276), and so on. Eastern sources, however, also from among the earliest records, use forms with a word-initial diphthong most often: Ойракапе, Ойрахале (although Орякале is also written nearby) 1466 (8: 75), Волость Ойрахогола 1528 (87: 6), в Ойрахоголе 1572 (65: I 16), от тивунства оирахголского 1572 (57: 208), волости оирахголской 1589 (ibid., 289), wloszci eyragolskiej 1590 (ibid., 300), оирахголской 1593 (ibid., 345), оирахголской 1599 (ibid., 507), в Ойрахольской волости, Ойрахольский дворец, зѣ Ойрахолы, Ойрахольский костелъ, у Воряхголе, Ойрахольского, Ойрахольская, Ойрахолы, тиенцъ Ейрахольский, до Ойрахоглы, зѣ Ойрахоглы, ку Ойрахоглому, Ейрахогольская, wloszi Eyragolska (35: 208–210). As we can see, documents written in Slavic languages use forms with the diphthong ai- (ei-) throughout the sixteenth century. A similar situation is found in the “Lithuanian Metrica”: Айрахгола, Айрахголу 1580 (94: 209), Raygola 1550 (ibid., 436), Аиряжгола, Аиряжголу late seventeenth century (ibid., 256), Аиряжголы, Аиряжголу late seventeenth century (ibid., 371). Compare also: “ciwunowei.... eiragolskiej” 1610 (70: 58), Эйрагола 1685, 1738, 1767, 1795 (21), Ejrogolas parakvijes 1848 (89: I 280). In Polish, only the form Eiragola later became established (13: II 498; 54: I 65); in Russian, Ойрагола (93: 71). It is difficult to say when the form Ariógala became firmly established in Lithuanian—M. Valančius, as we have seen, still wrote Eirogalas in 1848. The official 1925 list of inhabited-place names already gives the form Ariogalos mst. (33: 86). From then on, it became universally prevalent.

The history of the spellings of the name Ariógala in historical sources reveals a twofold variation: word-initial e: a and a: ai, e: ei.

Regarding the e: a variation, one can agree with K. Būga (2: I 134) that the earlier form was most likely the one with e. This is indicated by the early western spelling tradition, the Polish Ejragola, and the tendency to change word-initial e to a. The Cyrillic spelling with oi perhaps reflects a later pronunciation, with a at the beginning. More examples of this kind can be found; compare Оўмармуни (35: 210)—probably from *Eitar-tišk-: a derivative with the suffix -išk- from the compound personal name *Ei-tartas. Or again:

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Oūogedanys nearby Eūogedani (95: 260)—apparently from *Eigudonys or the like. This would be a derivative with the suffix -onys from the compound personal name *Ei-gaudas. The present-day village name Eiriogala (Žasliai parish, Kaišiadorys district) is recorded in 1567 as з Oūpagkoiiu (87: 649).

It is much more difficult to explain the relationship of the diphthong ėi-, ai- to the monophthong e, a-. As we have seen, western sources, without exception, have used forms with only e- or a- since the mid-13th century, while eastern sources (written mostly in Cyrillic) have used almost exclusively the diphthong ai-, and less often ei-: *Eriogala, Ariógala: *Eiriogala, Airiógala (the forms in the living language—see 2: II 333). The variant *Eiriogala coincides with the name of a village in Kaišiadorys district already mentioned, which is undoubtedly authentic—Eiriógala. Therefore, theoretically, the earlier form of the name Ariógala, *Eriogala, is entirely possible. But, after all, which forms—with er-, ar-, or with eir-, air-—are earlier and genuine? K. Būga asserts categorically on this matter: “Аирижгола is the invention of a Russian writer, based on the Old Lithuanian form Arjāgala. The name Arjāgala was very difficult for a Russian to pronounce because of the sequence j after r; pronunciation was facilitated by e p e n t h e s i s, i.e., the form arjā- was transformed... into air’a”... (2: I 134). In this author’s opinion, “If some Lithuanians today pronounce Airiógala instead of Ariógala, our local administrative office (Эйрагола) and the rectory are to blame; the latter only recently stopped speaking Polish there” (2: III 333). It seems that this explanation could be accepted. All the more so since it has been observed that Germans quite accurately rendered the Baltic diphthong ei (and ai), for example, Zeumen 1385 (28: II 693)—now Žeimlis, Eychschissken 1384 (ibid., 698)—now Eišiškės, Weyze 1253 (ibid., 136)—now Veisieji. This is especially evident in the German-language spellings of Prussian place names: Eister-fis river < *Eistr-, Degme river—Deimė, Neyden river < *Neid-, cf. Lithuanian Niedùs lake, etc. (96: 128—129). It is also unlikely that German chroniclers could have received information about Ariogala from a Lithuanian dialect in which the diphthongs ei-, ai- become monophthongs, especially since ei-, ai- remain unchanged around Ariogala. Therefore, the present-day form Ariógala in the living language may be considered authentic, having changed regularly from *Eriogala only later.

The root *er- (now ar-) is unclear. One can only surmise that it may derive from some personal name; compare the present-day surname Ārius and especially Ary̆s. Thus Ariógala or *Eriogala would mean “Ārio’s, *Ėrio’s end, outskirts.” Interestingly, a story has been recorded about the village name Eiriógala in Kaišiadorys district, according to which a prince named Eirys once lived there, and present-day Eiriogala was the edge of his field. In other words, Eiriogala, too, may be considered to have a personal-name origin.

Ariógalo and Eiriógalos, the elements ar- (er-) and eir- having an anthroponymic origin, is also supported by other compound place names formed similarly with -gal-, e.g., Daukšiògala—from Daukša, Daukšas, Daukšys; Gerdžiògala—from Gerdžius; Vytògala—from Vytas, etc. (for more detail, see Ramýgala).

Baisógala (1). The locality has been known since the sixteenth century, when Sigismund Augustus granted lands to the Baisogala parish in 1539 (6: II 432).

Historical records, although they vary somewhat, generally confirm the spoken form Baisógala: Бойсогола 1561–65 (2: I 251), Бойсаголы, Бейсаголы, Бойсагольского, Бойсагольская волость, Бойсагольский костел (35: 26), w Boisagole, w Beysagole 1572–1573 (57:

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205—206), Bojsagola in 1618 (21) and so on. It is true that J. Sprogjo gives the place-name Больсагола, имение in 1582 (35: 27). Perhaps this is the same Baisógala. But the usage of spoken language and the majority of historical document spellings do not allow us to suppose that today's Baisógala derives from *Balagola or the like. The spelling Больсагола, if this really is the name of the same small town, is probably an occasional formation.

Baisógala is a compound place-name, formed from bais- and -gala with the linking vowel o. The origin of the second component is clearer—it is associated with Lithuanian gãlas ‘end, edge’ (for more, see Ramýgala). The first component, bais-, raises doubts in that some other compound place-names of similar formation more often have an anthroponym as their first component: Daukšiógala: Daukšà, Daukšas, Daukšys; Gerdžiógala: Ger̃džius; Vylógala: Výtas, etc. (for more, see Ramýgala). However, no personal names, at least no current surnames, are known with the root bais-, so the root bais- may derive from the adjective baisùs ‘terrible’. Thus the original meaning of Baisógálos would be ‘a terrible place, an edge or outlying area of terror’. The analogy of Ramýgalos would support this assumption—the name of this place apparently originally meant ‘a quiet end, a quiet place’ or the like. In any case, there are also other examples in which the first component of compound place-names ending in -gala derives from common nouns, e.g., Lėknagala: lėknas, Žgõžgala: žąsis (‘end of the geese’), Žvejótagala: žvejoti, and others.

Batakiai (3ᵇ). The name was first mentioned rather late—only in the mid-15th century—but the area was probably inhabited long before. It is thought that Batakiai was established on the site of the former Aukaimis. Attacked and ravaged many times by the Order, Aukaimis was completely destroyed in 1305. Today's Batakiai may have been established in its place. By 1528 Batakiai was already the center of a district and a small town (1: IV 5—7).

In the sources, the form of the name varies: Botokÿ (1526 map of Samogitia), Betoki (1613 map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), Pottagon (1669 map of Prussia by K. Lang), план Ботока (1855—plan of the town of Batakiai), Ботоку (1865 plan of Batakiai), and others (1: IV 7—24). However, despite certain variations in spelling, the form of the name Batakiai is probably original, authentic, and genuine.

The origin of the name is clear—it was formed from the plural of a personal name, a current surname, Bátakis. This formation of names of inhabited places is very characteristic of Lithuanian—cf. Butrimai village: Butrimas surname, Algirdai village: Algirdas personal name, Bagdõnai village: Bagdõnas surname. This explanation of the origin is also supported by the fact that there was probably an owner of the area (perhaps already an estate) with the surname Botockis. That surname, Botockis, would be a Slavicized form of Lithuanian Bátakis or the like (1: IV).

Čekiškė (1). The name Čekiškė was first mentioned comparatively very late—in 1600. However, the settlement probably arose considerably earlier. On the basis of an entry in the 1687 inventory of the Vilkija eldership, in which an empty village of six valakas is called Piktakiemiu arba Čekiške, researchers infer that Čekiškė arose on the site of the former village of Piktakiemis. The village is mentioned in 1542. Čekiške it began to be called by the name of the estate located there (its earlier name was Čekakampiai or the like). That estate was established to the southeast of Pik-

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takiemis, beyond the stream (1: IV 29). Interestingly, another village named Piktakiemis still exists in Lithuania—in the Kietaviškės rural district, Kaišiadorys district.

There are quite a few place-names with the root ček- in Lithuania: Čekiškės village in Vilnius district, Čekiškis village in Pasvalys district, Čekai village in Akmenė district, Čekaičiai village in Kelmė district, Čekeliai village in Trakai district, Čekonys... in Anykščiai district, Čekiškė meadow in the Debeikiai vicinity, Čekiškės forest in the Eišiškės vicinity, and others. All of these probably derive from the personal names Čekas, Čekis, Čekys, Čekaitis, Čekelis, Čekonis. The small town's name Čekiškė is probably likewise of anthroponymic origin—from Čekas, Čekis or Čekys. Therefore, it would be inaccurate to derive this name directly from the ethnonym ‘Czech’. In other words, the linguistic analysis of the place-name Čekiškė does not show that the settlement Čekiškė received its name from Czechs supposedly having founded it. Another question is the origin of the personal names Čekas, Čekys, Čekaitis and others. One may suspect that in some cases personal names with the root ček- derive from the ethnonym ‘Czech’. There are also many other surnames in Lithuania derived from non-Baltic ethnonyms, for example: lėnkas and Lėnkas, totorius and Totorius, vokietis, vokietỹs and Vókietis, Vokietỹs, and so on.

It should be emphasized that there are hundreds of Lithuanian settlement names formed with the suffix -iškė from a personal name (surname): Antaniškė village in Ignalina district: Antanas, Arvydiškė village in Mažeikiai district: Arvydas, Beinoriškė village in Šiauliai district: Beinoris, Buivydiškė village in Šilalė district: Buivydas, Daūbariškė village in Ignalina district: Daūbaras, and so on.

Darsiūniškis (1). This small town in Kaišiadorys district is one of the oldest settlements in Lithuania, mentioned since the late 14th century (6: I 487).

The spellings in historical sources differ from present-day forms: Dirsunen in 1372 (28: II 572), Dirsungen in 1375 (ibid., 574), Dirsungen in 1375 (ibid., 576), Dyrsungen in 1377 (ibid., 589), Dirsunen in 1381 (ibid., 600), Dirsingen in 1379 (ibid., 601), Dirsūne in 1384 (ibid., 688), Dirsune in 1374 (28: III 95), Dirsunenhusen, Dirsunenhus in 1381 (ibid., 115). This is the tradition of the Teutonic Order. The spellings in Slavic languages (or in another language, when the town's name was written following Slavic-language forms) are different: in Dorsunyski in 1473 (67: 326), къ Дорсуншикамъ, до Дорсуншинок in 1542 (57: 23), дорсуншиково in 1582 (ibid., 225), дорсуншиково in 1582 (ibid., 227), Дорсуншицки, Местечко Дорсуншицкое, Волост. Дорсуншицкая in 1586 (ibid., 275—276), дорсуншицкое, дорсуншицкое, дорсуншицкое in 1586 (ibid., 277—278), Дорсуншицки in 1582 and 1791, Дорсуншицкая держава in 1585, 1775, and 1738, Дорсуншицкое староство in 1786 (98: 253), Darsuniscensis in 1794, Dorsuniszki in 1760, Дорсуншики in 1873 and 1874 (21), and so on.

Two types of differences can be observed: a) western sources use the form without the suffix -išk-, while eastern sources use it with this suffix; b) western sources generally have *dirsūn-, while eastern sources have *darsūn-.

How did these differences arise? The spelling with and without the suffix -išk- apparently reflects the development of this place-name. The chronicles of the Teutonic Order first mention not the town, but the name of a man, a nobleman from Vilnius: Dirzsune in 1365 (28: II 551), Dirsūnen in 1366 (ibid., 557), filius Dirsūnen in 1371 (ibid., 570). Only in 1372 does “terram Dirsūnen” appear—“the land of Dirsūnas” (ibid., 572): this is undoubtedly the present-day Darsiūniškis. With the emergence of the place

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in the name * Dirsūnai or the like, the person’s name is no longer mentioned.

Thus, it seems, there really was a man named * Dirsūnas. Somewhat later, the locality also came to be named after him: ”terram Dirsunen” and especially Dirsunenhusen, Dirsunenhus < * Dirsūnen-haus (German Haus, Prussian Hus “house, houses, palace”)—“Dirsūnas’s yard, home.”

Thus, the personal name * Dirsūnas became a place name, * Dirsūnai or the like. The forms in the Teutonic Order chronicles did not acquire the suffix -išk- perhaps because, as we have seen, the owner * Dirsūnas was still alive at the time, so the suffix denoting possession or location had not yet become attached to the place name. It appears somewhat later, once the situation had changed: Dorsuniski in 1473. But another root also appears with the suffix -išk-: instead of dirs- — dars-. This relationship is very difficult to explain, since dirs- could not regularly have changed into dars-. Thus the question arises: which of these roots is primary and original, and which is later and altered?

It is impossible to answer precisely. One can only offer a couple of arguments in favor of the root dirs-. First, the Teutonic Order chronicles, written at the time the place name was being formed, may perhaps reflect the pronunciation of the time more accurately, especially since both the nobleman’s name and the place name derived from it have the same root, dirs-. Second, the evidence of present-day Lithuanian names more strongly supports the root dirs-. As mentioned, the place name * Dirsūnai is clearly derived from a personal name: current surnames are known only with the root dirs-: Dirsė, Dirsa, Dirsaitis. Place names (of personal-name or appellative origin) with the root dirs- are especially abundant: Dirsāpievės meadow, Utena; Dirsbalė meadow, marsh, Pakruojis; Dirsėlė forest, Kamajai; Dirsės field, Seredžius; Dirsūnė marsh, Liudvinavas, etc. There are also settlement names with dirs-: Dirsiai village, Šakiai district; Dirsiai part of Vainatrakis village, Pakuonis rural district; Dirsiai village, Pašvitinys rural district; Dirsiai village—formerly in East Prussia, Įsrutis rural district. No place names with the root dars- are known.

Dieveniškės (1). It is conjectured that in the early fourteenth century the estate of the prominent Lithuanian feudal lord Gedgaudas was located in or near present-day Dieveniškės. Perhaps the settlement of Dieveniškės was first mentioned in 1385 under the name “Mingaila’s village.” It is thought that Mykolas Mingaila, son of Gedgaudas, came from Dieveniškės (1: VI 5). In documents from 1561–1565, Dieveniškės is referred to as a royal district. It was first called a town in 1582 (ibid., 6–7).

In historical sources, the name is written in quite similar forms: Dzevyenyszky in 1471, Dziewieniški in 1613 (map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), Дзевенишки in 1864–1865, 1873, 1874, etc. (21). Therefore, the form Dieveniškės, used by local residents today and officially established, may be considered fully authentic.

The name is most likely of personal-name origin—a derivative in the suffix -iškės from the personal name (surname) * Dievenis. It is true that this surname has not survived to the present day, but it is entirely plausible in theory. Moreover, the surname Dzievēnis was recorded in the Šalčininkai area in the fourth decade of this century. This is undoubtedly a dialectal form (a Dzūkian feature) of * Dievenis. Thus, the existence of the corresponding personal name is beyond doubt. In addition, more surnames and place names with the root diev-: are known: surnames—Dievaitis, Dievūnas, Dievulis; place names—Dievaičiai village, Šakiai district; Dievonai village, Kelmė district; Dievoniškės village, Vilnius district.

Names of settlements formed with the suffix -iškės from personal names, Lie-

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In Lithuania, especially popular are: Abrōmiškės village: Abrōmas, Adōmiškės 3 villages: Adōmas, Aleksandriškės 4 villages: Aleksandras, Antāniškės 5 villages: Antānas, Bagdōniškės 5 villages: Bagdōnas, Būivy diškės village: Būivydas, Daūbariškės 2 villages: Daūbaras, Jokūbiškės 3 villages: Jokūbas, and so on.

Garliavà (4). The village began to develop in the early 19th century on the estate land of J. Godlevski, beside a newly constructed highway. For some time it was called Godlevu (5: 1): Godlewo in 1918, Годлево in 1902 (21). But the variant Garliavà: Годлево—Новое, dep. — Gorliava ‘new’ appears fairly early, in 1901 (102: 186); Godlewo (Garleva) in 1912 (21), Garlevà in 1904 (32: II 27). After the form Garliava was given in “Lithuanian inhabited localities” in 1925 (33: 65), it later became universally established.

The earlier form Garliavōs Godlewo is formed in a way similar to Polish Godlewo—the name of several dozen villages and hamlets in various parts of Poland (61: 299). These are place names of Polish origin—cf. Polish godło ‘coat of arms, emblem’, Polish surnames Godło, Godła.

The form Godlevo (apparently *Godleva in Lithuanian pronunciation) became Garliavà for phonetic reasons—the latter form is simply easier for a Lithuanian speaker to pronounce.

Gelgaudiškis (1). At the site of present-day Gelgaudiškis there was, in the late 15th century, the Skirsnemunė estate, called Gedigaudiškiu until the end of the 16th century. The name Gelgaudiškis is first mentioned, probably, in 1599 (60: 618).

This is a derivative formed with the suffix -iškis from a compound personal name. But it is unclear which one; that is, it is unknown how Gedigaudiškis became Gelgaudiškiu. Two interpretations are possible.

The first is that the earlier form Gedigaudiškis, apparently written in Slavic as *Gedigoldiški or similar, was simply reshaped into Gelgaudiškis: *Gedigoldiški > *Gedgoldiški > present-day Polish Gielgudyszki—Lithuanian Gelgaudiškis. This development may also have been influenced by the fact that around the middle of the 18th century, after the Oziembłowski family, Gelgaudiškis was owned by Gelgudas (60: 619). The personal name Gelgudas is most likely a Slavicized form of *Gelgaudas. This would support the conclusion that the personal name Gelgaudas may have been known in these regions earlier as well. Cf. the entry in an inventory from 1595, probably written at the Milžavenai manor in the Viduklė district: Яновои Кгелкгудови (57: 386)—“Janovoi Gelgudovoi”. The Slavic forms Gielgudyszki, Гелгудишки are associated with the Slavicized personal name Gelgudas.

Nevertheless, despite certain arguments in favor of the possible transformation of Gedigaudiškio into Gelgaudiškis, doubts remain. Perhaps most importantly, there are other settlement names in Lithuania derived from the personal name Gėdgaudas or a similar name: Gėdgaudiškė village in the Skaudvilė district of Tauragė County, Gedgaudiškė village in the Pagojukai district of Raseiniai County, and Gedgaudžiai village in the Imbarė district of Kretinga County. As we can see, they have remained unchanged, their stem gedgaud- not becoming gelgaud-.

One might wonder whether Gedigaudiškis and Gelgaudiškis are two different place names, derived from different personal names: the former from Gedigaudas, the latter from Gelgaudas or Gelgauda.

The compound personal name Gedigaudas (with linking vowel i) has not survived in the spoken language. But the surname Gėdgaudas is borne by more than a hundred families (34: I 639). Historical documents show that the personal name Gėdgaudas definitely existed: Giedigold in 1434, Gėdigoldi in 1433, Gėdigoldouncz in 1434, Kzeduk-

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zoabdoavča 1450 (2: I 226). Thus, from the personal name Gedigaudas, the place name *Gedigaudiškis could have arisen initially. Later, as the settlement changed hands (60: 617–622), especially when Gelgaudai somehow became associated with this locality, a new place name, Gelgaudiškis, was formed—a derivative of Gelgaudas, Gelgauda. with the same suffix -iškis.

It is not easy to decide which of these assumptions is more plausible—the older recorded forms are lacking. The later forms, however, are quite consistent. For example, in the 1665 inventory of the Gelgaudiškis manor: Giełgudiskiey, w... Giełgudyszkach (57: 234), do Giełgudyszek (ibid., 235), w Giełgudyszkach (ibid., 240); in the 1666 inventory of the Gelgaudiškis manor: Giełgudyskiey (ibid., 253), w Giełgudyszkach (ibid., 255); in the 1668 inventory of the Gelgaudiškis manor: Giełgudyski (ibid., 269), w Giełgudyszkach (ibid., 271); Гелгаудишки in 1666, 1667, 1682, 1699 (98: 189), and so on.

Jieznas (2). In 1492, the Jieznas manor and district are mentioned; in 1581, the town (4: II).

Earlier recorded forms are quite similar: Езна c. 1516 (99: 374), Эзна 1567 (87: 470), Езно 1748, Езненская волость 1873, Езно 1874 (21).

The town is situated on the northern shore of Lake Jieznas, by the Jieznėlė stream. In addition, there was a bog and meadows nearby called Jiežnis or Jiežne. Thus, the names of as many as four features are known: the genitive-form lake name Jiezno ežeras, the stream name Jieznėlė, the bog and meadow name Jiežnis or Jiežne, and the town name Jiežnas. In fact, there are also other place names in the vicinity containing jiežn-, but they are all secondary—derived from the name of the river, lake, or town.

We must therefore determine the relationship among the four names mentioned. Since hydronyms are generally older than settlement names, it may be assumed that the town name Jiežnas derives from the name of the river or lake, not vice versa. The first component of the lake’s genitive-form name, Jiezno ežeras, Jiezno, and the town name Jiežnas (more precisely, their nominative forms) are identical. Therefore, the town name probably derives from the lake name, but not from its current genitive form; rather, it derives from the earlier nominative form *Jieznas. In other words, the settlement name Jiežnas arose from the unchanged lake name *Jieznas. This is a common way of forming oikonyms in Lithuanian. Later, as the settlement grew, the lake name became genitive in form—Jiezno ežeras.

The river name Jieznėlė and the bog and pool names Jiežnis, Jiežne probably arose somewhat later, but apparently also from the lake name *Jieznas.

That the hydronym *Jieznas predates the oikonym Jiežnas is also shown by the name’s etymology. In K. Būga’s opinion, the name Jiežnas is supposedly Yotvingian (2: III 610). Its root jiez- < *iez-: the consonant z may correspond to Lithuanian ž: *iez-. The river name Iėžesta (Joniškėlis) has the same root. Thus, the root of the name Jiežnas is more characteristic of hydronyms (49: 135). The derivation of the town name Jiežnas from the lake name *Jieznas is therefore entirely possible.

Kaišiadorys (3). The town began to develop in the second half of the 19th century, when construction of the Vilnius–Kaunas railway began in 1862. Temporary houses for workers were built near the Riomeriai manor, by the village of Juodkonys. The railway station grew up in the fields of Juodkonys village. The Russians called Juodkonys Eitkonys and similar names. This name became confused with the name of the Eitkūnai railway station

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name, so the name of Juodkoniai station was soon changed—the station was named Kaišiadorys (6: I 493; 3: II).

The origin of the name is entirely unclear. What is certain is that the form used and still used by the local Lithuanian population is Kaišiadorys (recorded in 1935, 1936, etc.). The evidence from historical documents is late—Кошедары (1895, Karta Kovenskoi gubernii), Каушедары (m.=?), Кошедары (1905), and so on. Nevertheless, there is reason to claim that the place-name is compound: Kaiš-ia-dorys. But it cannot be determined which root—kaiš- of the spoken language or koš- in written records (from Lithuanian *kaš-)—is older, the original one. Z. Zinkevičius believes that the form with o (koš-) arose from kaiš- through monophthongization (12: 98). Under the influence of Slavic languages, such monophthongization is indeed possible. However, as noted, the name Kaišiadorys is late, probably appearing only in the second half of the nineteenth century, so the change of the diphthong ai into the vowel o is questionable, since other place-names in documents from this period are written with ai or another diphthong that has not become a monophthong. For example, Koveučku in 1874—now Kašeikiai village, Molėtai district; Kayszalaki in 1784, Kaušalakau in 1874—now Kaišalakiai village, Vaidotai parish, Vilnius district; Kaiszaneli in 1854—now Kaišenėliai village, Raseiniai district. In addition, reverse cases also occur, in which a Lithuanian monophthong gives rise to a diphthong, e.g. Kedėiniai — Kejdany, Górainiai — Goirani, Kadāičiai — Koidoti (13: II 161), and similar spellings. Therefore, it is not impossible that the older form may also have been *Kašiadorys or something similar. For ease of pronunciation by Lithuanian speakers, it may have changed into Kaišiadorys. Whatever the case, it is more or less clear that this is a compound name, whose second element dor- apparently derives from dar- and is related to Lithuanian daryti ‘to work, to make’. The first element, if it was kaš-, is derived from the Lithuanian Slavic loanword kašė ‘basket, wicker basket’. In that case, Kaišiadorys would have originated as a professional designation for people—*kašadarai—meaning ‘makers, workers of kašės, i.e. baskets, wicker baskets, or the like’. That people could have been called this is shown by the surnames Každaila, Každailys, Každailis, Každailius—from *Každailis, *Každailys, and the like. These surnames clearly derive from the name of a trade: *kašdailis, *kašdailys—meaning ‘one who distributes or makes baskets’.

In that case, if it could be proved that the true form is kaiš-, this root might derive from Lithuanian kaistis ‘a wedge, stopper; a peg or stick used to block something (e.g., a wheel, so that it does not slip off); a door latch, bolt’. Thus, in this case too, the town’s name would derive from a designation for people’s trade, *kaišiadarys ‘maker or worker of pegs’, or from a corresponding nickname-based personal name (nickname).

Kamajai (3ᵇ). The Kamajai estate is known from 1541. From 1594 it belonged to the Tyzenhauz family. A church was built in 1635. The town developed later, especially in the nineteenth century (3: II; 4: II; 1: VI 90–91).

The origin of the name is entirely unclear. As is known, in Belarus, some distance east of the town of Adutiškis (Švenčionys district), near the Lithuania–Belarus border, there is another town with a similar name, Kamójys. Until recently, it and its environs were still densely inhabited by Lithuanians (and in some places they still are). There is no doubt that Kamójys is a Lithuanian place-name, formed from the plural of the name Kamojà, the river on which the town is situated. Incidentally, this river also flows through Lithuania (a right tributary of the Birveta). Thus, the Belarusian town’s name is hydronymic in origin.

This fact would suggest that Lithuania’s Kamajai may also have originated from the name of a river

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or lake. However, J. Balčikonis derives the town’s name, Kamajai, from the river name Kamają without comment or qualification (9: 242). But this is most likely a misunderstanding, since no other sources—neither spoken language (122) nor historical documents (21)—attest to such a river name. It is true that there is a river called Kamaja in Lithuania, but it flows past Gelvonai (a right tributary of the Neris), so the urbanonym Kamajai could not have formed from its name.

Trying to explain the origin of Kamajai in some other way, that is, without linking them to a hydronym, would be unrealistic. We must therefore settle for two conjectures: 1) at some point there may have been the name of a stream or lake, *Kamoją, *Kamajus, or something similar, which gave rise to the town’s name Kamajai. But until the existence of such a hydronym is proved, this explanation of the town’s name will remain only a hypothesis; 2) the town’s name Kamajai is a transferred place-name, brought to Lithuania at some point (say, in the sixteenth century) by the owners who ruled Kamojis, now in Belarus. There are not many such repeated place-names that can be considered transferred, but some do occur. This hypothesis is also supported, at least in part, by the rather confused historical-document evidence concerning Kamojis or Kamajus in the early sixteenth century (1: VI 90).

Kazlų Rūda (4). Kazlos iron-smelting site (2 families) is mentioned in 1737. In 1744, ore began to be smelted here, and the village of Kazlų Rūda started to grow. The present-day town developed after the Kaunas–Königsberg railway was built and a railway station was established (4: II).

This is a compound place-name, whose first component, Kazlų, is a personal name derived from the surname Kazla. As noted, the Kazla family first settled here; it was quite a large family, with five or six brothers (6: III 247). The surname Kazla is known in Suvalkija even today (34: I 959).

The origin and history of the second component, Rūdą, are somewhat more complex. Most importantly, it is connected with places where ore was obtained and processed, which in Lithuania are called by similar but distinct names: rūda and rudnia. It is therefore useful to discuss together the place-names derived from these words.

At first glance, a certain similarity can be seen between both groups of place-names—Rūdą and Rudnią—because their roots are similar: rūd- (Rūda) and rud- (Rudnia). But they are not quite identical: first, the vowel ū in the first root is long, whereas that in the second is short (u). Second, the root rud- is further extended by the consonant n: rudn-. As we shall see, this difference is quite important.

Before examining the origins of these two groups of place-names, we should note that there are quite a few places in Lithuania called Rūdos or Rūdnios.

Rūda: besides Kazlų Rūda, two more villages in Vilkaviškis district (in the Gižai and Šeimena areas), a village in Prienai district, a village in Lazdijai district, a meadow in Plungė district, a bog in Rokiškis district, and others.

Rudnia: three villages in Šalčininkai district (in the Gerviškės, Milkūnai, and Rudninkai areas), four villages in Varėna district (in the Kaniava, Marcinkonys, Merkinė, and Pavarėnis areas), a single farmstead in Trakai district, a meadow in Varėna district, and others. In addition, near Kazlų Rūda there is a field and a meadow called Rudnė, while a bathing place near Seirijai (Lazdijai district) is called Rudnė.

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From the distribution of the place names Rūdà and Rudnià presented here, it can be seen that the place name Rūdà occurs very widely—in Samogitia and in eastern and southern Lithuania. The place name Rudnià, however, occurs only in southern Lithuania, almost exclusively in the Šalčininkai and Varėna districts. If we look south beyond our republic’s borders, we will see that in northern Poland and western Belarus there are dozens of places named Rudnios. From this we conclude that Lithuania’s Rudnios are merely part of a large area in which this place name is known. This fact will seem entirely understandable once we learn that Belarusians and Poles have the common noun rudnia, meaning “a bog-iron ore processing enterprise, a place where iron ore is smelted,” and so on. The place names in Poland and Belarus, Rudnia., were formed from this common noun.

There is no doubt that the place names Rudnià in southern Lithuania, too, derive from the Polish or Belarusian word rudnia, “a place for processing bog iron ore.” Thus, in the places now called Rudnià, there must once have been iron-smelting enterprises or small factories processing bog iron ore.

The place names Rūdà derive from the common noun rūdà, “a substance from which iron is made.” In Lithuania, the word rūdà could only have meant bog iron ore. The word rūdà is cognate (not borrowed) with Polish ruda, Belarusian and Russian ruda, and so on.

The connection between Rūdnios and Rūdos. thus becomes clear. Rūdà are places where bog iron ore was found, whereas Rudnià are places where bog iron ore was processed. Only the place name Rudnià derives from the Polish or Belarusian word rudnia, whereas Rūdà derives from the Lithuanian word rūdà.

Thus, in the place where the Kazla family settled, there was bog iron ore. The second component of the place name derives from the common noun bog iron ore, Bog Iron Ore.

Kėdainiai (1). One of the oldest towns in Lithuania. It is believed that the town’s name was first mentioned in 1372 in the chronicle of H. Wartberge—as Gay dine (28: II 102; 55: 37; 106: 17). In the 15th century, J. Dlugošas mentions the town of Kėdainiai—”oppidum Kieidany” (55: 37).

In other historical documents, the spelling of the name varies: Кейданы in 1482 (67: 382), (къ) Кѣйдонамъ in 1449 (8: 118), Кѣйдану in 1563 (62: 666), мещанина мѣщного Кѣйдонского around 1510 (99: 23), Кѣйдони in 1578, Кѣйдони, Кѣйдоны, Кѣйдойны, до Кѣйдоны in 1581, Кѣйдоны, съ Кѣйданъ in 1582, Кѣйдани, Кѣйдоны, Кѣйдони, Кѣйдайны, Кѣйдойны in 1583, до Кѣйдана in 1584, Кѣйдони, Кѣйдойны, до Кѣйдонъ in 1585, зь Кѣйданъ, зь Кѣйдонъ, до Кѣйдонъ in 1589, съ Кѣйдана, съ Кѣйдонъ in 1590, съ Кѣйданъ in 1591, Кѣйдани, съ Кѣйданъ in 1592, до места Кѣйдонского или Кѣйдона in 1594, зь места Кѣйдонъ in 1595–1653 (35: 129), kiejdanskich in 1562 (57: 149), kiejdanskiego in 1585, Юр’u Кеданиншкис in 1592 (ibid., 322), до Кеданикъ in 1596 (ibid., 423), imienia Kiejdanskiego in 1604 (70: 18), Kiejdany in 1604 (ibid., 20), do Kiejdan in 1604 (ibid., 33), w Kiejdanach in 1653 (ibid., 193), do... Kiejdan in 1669 (ibid., 277), Kiejdany in 1752 (112), Kiejdajnius in 1848 (89: II 121–123).

The origin of the name is not entirely clear. It is thought that the present form Kėdainiai is later, having developed from Kėdainys (2: I 427; III 148; 13: II 160); compare the 1653 spelling Kiedaynise (2: III 148; 13: II 160). This would be a place name formed in a similar way to Bene kainys, Geranainys, Smurgainys (Belarusian

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names of small towns).

A. Salys, who has examined the name Kėdainiai most extensively, considers it a place name formed from the plural of a personal name, now a surname, Kėdainis, Kėdainis (13: II 160). Cf. also the surname Kėdainis (34: I 965). This author states unequivocally that sixteenth-century spellings with a diphthong in the root do not show that Kėdainiai could at that time have been pronounced *Kėdainiai *Keidainys or *Keidonys, “since Ariogala too is usually written Oriagola in the same sources, and only occasionally Oriagola” (13: II 161). A. Salys gives other examples of diphthongization as well: Górainiai village in Kražiai district is written not only Garaini, Goraini, Garoini, but also Garoni, Goiraini, Kraidžiaič village in Platelių district—Koidoiti. A. Salys comments on the form Gaidine in H. Wartberge’s chronicle (inaccurately written Gaidie) as follows: “the chronicler, who perhaps knew some Prussian, remodeled the Lithuanian place name according to Prussian gaydis ‘wheat’” (ibid.).

Without disputing A. Salys’s account of how the name Kėdainiai came about, one must nevertheless add that some doubt remains concerning the root vowel ė. It is true that cases of diphthongization occur in historical documents written in Slavic languages (the example of Arióg[a]los is particularly striking). But it is also true that the name Arióg[a]los is consistently written with the vowel a or e at the beginning of the word in Teutonic documents and chronicles. The first recorded variant of Kėdainiai in those same chronicles, however, has ay < *ai in the root: Gaydine. Nor can the Latin spelling Keydany from 1482, or J. Długosz’s “oppidum Kieidany” (15th c.), be entirely disregarded. Polish-language texts, including the 1604 inventory of the Kėdainiai estate and town (70: 18), consistently use forms with a diphthong in the root, apparently even deliberately emphasizing it (written kieid-, kieyd-, and so on). M. Valančius did likewise: Kiejdąjnusi. Thus the proto-form *Keidainys is not entirely impossible. All the more so since further oikonyms of clearly anthroponymic origin with keid- are known: Keidãi village in Akmenė district, Keidžiai village in Šalčininkai district, and a village in Raseiniai district. There is no shortage of present-day surnames with keid- either: Keidaitis, Keidónas, Keidūnas. In the past there were also non-derived forms; cf. Lawrin Keyda in 1561 (57: 567, 572), Mącziei Kieida (ibid., 657, 658). As we can see, here too the root diphthong is written ei in Polish. Indirect evidence also supports the possibility that the root diphthong is genuine. For instance, alongside Gaydine, H. Wartberge’s chronicle writes Newese nike — Nevežiniukai village in the Naujamiestis district of Panevėžys district: the vowel e is not diphthongized. Pėdžiai village in Kėdainiai district is similarly written Pedins (28: II 102). Incidentally, the initial consonant g in Gaydine may also have arisen not because the chronicler knew Prussian, but because g and k were confused in documents of this kind. The consonant g in place of k occurred most often before r, m, n, and vowels; cf. Grasyen, Grasien, Graschyn — Kražiai; Golanten, Galanten, Gallanten — *Kalantai (modern Kulautuva); Gedehinen — Gėdiškiai; Lenghemen — Liūkmenys, and so on (106: 97–98). Thus there are various arguments for the view that the earlier form of Kėdainiai had the diphthong ei in the root (*Keidainys or the like). That earlier form, *Keidainys, could have changed to Kėdainiai because of the inconvenience of pronunciation—that is, because the two diphthongs ei and ai, occurring almost side by side, are difficult to pronounce.

If this assumption were confirmed, the name *Keidainys could likewise be derived from a personal name—cf. the present-day surnames mentioned above, Keidaitis, Keidónas, Keidūnas, and the sixteenth-century *Keida.

Kybārtai (1). A village, mentioned in 1561, developed during the colonization of Suvalkija

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during the reign of Queen Bona. The settlement began to grow rapidly in 1861, when the Kaunas–Virbalis railway was laid and a railway station was built (4: II).

The name is undoubtedly of anthroponymic origin—formally, it can be regarded as having developed from the plural of a given name, later a surname, Kybártas. This surname is known in Lithuania today as well. In fact, its variant Kybartas is much more common (34: I 985). The surname Kybártas is known around Nemakščiai and Viduklė. Might the first inhabitants of Kybartai, then, have come from Žemaitija?

Historical facts also confirm that the town’s name is indeed anthroponymic. A detailed 1561 inventory of Jurbarkas and Virbalis has survived (57: 563–679); it mentions not only the town’s name, but also the surnames of inhabitants of this area in the mid-sixteenth century. In 1561, the village of Kybartai (written “Siolo Kiborty”), which had 26 voloks, was home to about 24 farmers, including the following: Paweł Kibortowicz, Ian Kibortaitis, Ivrgi Kibortaitis, Baltruszys Kibortaitis, Maczys Kibortaitis, Hanvs Kibortaitis (57: 658). Thus a quarter of the village’s inhabitants were Kybartaičiai (Kibortowicz is most likely a Slavicized form of *Kybartaitis). The question therefore arises why the village’s name is not *Kybartaičiai, but Kybártai. This question is not easy to answer (earlier spellings are lacking), but the following becomes clear. It seems that the village may initially have been called precisely that—*Kybartaičiai. This is also evident from the aforementioned inventory: “...bokiem wedlie wlók śiola Kibartaycz­iow” (ibid., 660)—“beside the fields of the village of Kybartaičiai.” In all other instances, however, the village’s name is written without the suffix: śiola Kibarthow (ibid., 652), Kiborty (ibid., 658), śiola Kibortow (ibid., 661), w Kibortach (ibid., 664), and so on.

The situation here was apparently similar to that of Šakiai: originally there was a village of Šakaičiai, formed from the personal name Šakaitis. Later, when our patronymics became surnames, patronymic suffixes (most often -aitis) were frequently dropped. Thus, as long as the surname was Šakaitis, the village too was called Šakaičiai; when Šakaitis became Šakis, the settlement’s name Šakaičiai likewise changed to Šakiai.

The situation with Kybártų may have been similar—the village name *Kybartaitis arose from the surname *Kybartaičiai; when the surname *Kybartaitis changed to Kybártas (incidentally, the suffixed surname *Kybartaitis has not been recorded at all in modern times), the village name also became Kybártai. Both names—Kybartaičiai and Kybártai—may have been used in parallel for some time. By the mid-sixteenth century, as we have seen, the variant Kybártai had clearly prevailed (see also Šakiai).

Klaipėda (1). One of the oldest settlements in Lithuania. In 1252 the Teutonic Knights built a castle here and named it Memelburg. The Germans, as is well known, still call the city itself Memel. This Memel is a Germanized form of the name Nemunas. How did the river name Nėmunas come to be transferred to a city so far from the river? This happened because it was then believed that the Curonian Lagoon strait near Klaipėda was the mouth of the Nemunas. At that time the river’s name was written in various ways in German sources (Memela, Memele, Memole, Mimela). It had previously been thought that these German variants of the name Nemunas had developed from Nėmunas, but exactly how had not been clear. V. Balaišis, a docent at Vilnius University, has recently explained this. It turns out that a similar phonetic development was characteristic of German at that time. For example, the Germanic river name Nemaningus, Nemaninga became Miniminga in German, and later Mümling; or

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Again, Prussian Nemmersdorf changed into Lemmersdorf, and so on. Thus, the adaptation of other proper names in German also confirms that Memel is a phonetic variant of the name Nėmunas that arose in German (139).

Unlike the Germans, Lithuanians call the city Klaipėda.

As far as is known, the name Klaipėdos was first mentioned in 1420 in a summary of negotiations between the Teutonic Order and Vytautas: ”castrum Memel alias Klawppeda” (13: II 162). After that, Memel. predominated in German writings for a long time. But German sources of the 16th and 17th centuries also contain spellings such as Cleupeda, Kleupeda and the like (ibid., 163), Cleypeda (Hartnoch’s map, I). In Polish, the form Kłajpeda. became established.

The origin of the place name is unclear, although various opinions have been expressed. They can be divided into two groups. Some believe it is a compound place name. The first to propose this idea was probably the German linguist and distinguished Balticist F. Nesselmann in his 1851 dictionary. He connected the element klaip- with Latvian klāips and Lithuanian kliepas, ‘a loaf of bread’. K. Būga supported this rather doubtful etymology: he linked klaip- with Latvian klāips, and -ėda with Lithuanian ėsti. Thus, according to K. Būga, Klaipėda would be *Duonėda, ‘bread-eater’ (supposedly a castle that consumes a lot of bread) (2: I 551; II 231; III 209, 855). Understandably, this is more a folk etymology. Interestingly, well before K. Būga, in his work ”Litauen” (”Lithuanians”), published in Stuttgart in 1898, A. Zweck explained the name Klaipėdos much more convincingly: he linked the element klai- with Latvian klājs, ‘open, empty, level, flat’, and pėda, ‘foot’, as well as pada, ‘sole, paving, flooring, pavement’. The meaning of the compound word as a whole was ‘a low, level, flat place’ (140: 253). This is one of the most serious explanations of the origin of Klaipėdos. J. Endzelīns held a similar view; in his ”Latvian Language Dictionary” he also quotes a verse from a folk song: ”Liepa auga liepājā, uozuoliņš klaipēdā” (”a linden grows in the linden grove, an oak sapling in Klaipėda”). In addition, Zembrickis’s Lithuanian folk etymology is known: klaja pėda, ‘an open headland’, which J. Endzelīns also mentions (141: II 209). Thus the place name Klaipėda is most likely Curonian, deriving from a Curonian compound word *klaipėda, whose original meaning may have been ‘a level, low place’. Others disagree with this etymology. As early as 1930, J. Gerulis and P. Skardžius proposed that the place name Klaipėda might be of personal-name origin. They cite the surnames Klaipėdžius, Klaipėdaitis, Kleipėdžius. A. Salys also unreservedly supports this hypothesis. He believes there was a personal name *Klaipėda, from which the city’s name Klaipėda arose (13: 162). Thus Klaipėda would have a similar origin to Kaunas, Kovárskas, Sudárgas and others. This assumption is also supported by the name Klaipėdava, that of a former single-farmstead settlement in Pandėlys district: it is a derivative of the personal name *Klaipėda with the Slavic suffix -ava (like Jonava from Jónas, Aleksandravà from Aleksándras, etc.). We have no clear evidence as to which of these hypotheses is more accurate; further research is needed. In theory, both versions are possible, but clearly only one is true.

Krekenavà ^(34b). The settlement is generally considered to have been first mentioned in 1409: Cretkynowc (55: 52; 1: IX 5). At the end of the 15th century, Krekenava was the center of a district; in 1561 it is mentioned as a town (4: II; 3: II).

The origin of the name is unclear. The old spellings differ somewhat from the current form: у Кракшиноне in 1548 (55: 52), Крокиново in 1561 (30: 76), до

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miestelčka Krokinovskomo in 1585, ė miestely Krokinovskomo in 1585 (21), Krokinow in 1613 (map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), Krakūnava in 1854, Krakūnava in 1892, Krakūnovė in 1895, Krakūnova in 1915 (21). There also seems to have been a diminutive form with the suffix -ėl-: ė polno Krokinovelskome in 1585, ė polno Krokinovelas in 1586 (ibid.): *krakinav-ėl-, *krokinav-ėl- or similar. Historical documents do not provide a clearer answer as to which of these variants—with *krak- or *krokin-—is older and original, since, as we have seen, the town’s name appears in varying spellings. Nevertheless, there is some basis for supposing that the original form had *krak-, while the *krok- form in historical documents is a regular rendering of the short Lithuanian vowel a as the vowel o in Slavic languages (Russian, Polish). Spellings with a (mostly from later periods) are apparently a graphic reflection of Lithuanian pronunciation.

The spellings in historical documents leave no doubt that the older form was not kreken-, but *krakin-. Thus it can be asserted that the original form of the town’s name was *Krakinava. As we have seen, this form was still used in written sources in the early 20th century. However, there is no doubt that by the early 20th century local residents already knew the form Krekenava, -os; Vaižgantas records it in this form in 1904 (32: XI 12). ”Lietuvos apgyventos vietos” (”Inhabited Places of Lithuania”) likewise gives the form krekenava in 1925 (33: 157).

How, then, should the original variant *Krakinava be interpreted? There is no doubt that the stem is *krakin-, while -ava is a suffix. It is most likely a suffix of Slavic origin, used to form numerous settlement names in Lithuania. Most commonly, these are derivatives of personal names with the suffix -ava (or -avas): Adomavà: Adõmas, Antanavà: Antãnas, Algirdavà: Algirdas, Mantydavà: Mañtydas, and so on. It is therefore entirely possible that the town’s name *Krakinava was also formed with the suffix -ava from the personal name *Krakinis or a similar name—cf. the present-day Lithuanian surnames Krãkė, Krãkis, Krakỹs, derived from Lithuanian krãkė, ‘black woodpecker, red-headed woodpecker; crucian carp’ (34: I 1063).

The earlier form of the town’s name, *Krakinava, most likely changed into the current *Krekenava by analogy with the once very common common noun krėkenas, krėkenys, krėkenos, ‘milk from a cow that has just calved or is about to calve’.

Kruonis (1). It is believed that in the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Kruonis was already a manor, where King Kazimieras had a chapel built in 1472. The locality is marked on the 1613 map of Lithuania, which means it was already widely known at that time. The town grew in the 19th century (3: II; 4: II).

The historian M. Balinskis considered Kruonis a particularly ancient settlement because, in his view, another name for the Nemunas mentioned in old sources, Chronus, was supposedly the same as Kruonis (6: I 484).

In fact, there is no basis for identifying the Chronus of the sources with the town’s name. If any connection between them is possible, it would only be indirect. As is known, the town is situated by a river called Krūonė. There is not the slightest doubt that the town was named after the river. Thus, the river came first, and the town, of course, arose later.

As for identifying Krūonės with Chronus, much remains unclear. For one thing, the Kruonė is too small a stream for ancient authors to have confused it with the Nemunas. Moreover, there is evidence indicating that Chronus may also have been another

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river. For example, the chronicle of the Teutonic Order, “De Borussiae antiquitatibus,” states: “Est autem Chronus fluvius, qui hodie Pergulus dicitur” (28: IV 287) — “Further, there is the river Chronus, which is now called the Prieglius” (the Prieglius is a river in East Prussia that flows into the Baltic). Thus, for the time being, there is no clearer basis for identifying Chronus with Krūonė.

The formation of settlement names from hydronyms is highly characteristic of Lithuanian. In this particular case, we see a certain mismatch—the river name Krūonė is feminine, while the town name Krūonis is masculine. However, this is no reason to doubt the town name’s derivation from a hydronym, since there are other instances in which a settlement name differs from the corresponding hydronym, including in form: Alėja river: Alėjai village, Raseiniai district; Juodupė river: Juodupiai village, Vilkaviškis district; Vašaknas lake: Vašaknos village, Zarasai district, etc.

Lazdijai (2). In 1532, Lazdijai was already a ruler’s estate and an eldership (6: III 476). The town was founded by Žygimantas Augustas in 1560, and Žygimantas Vaza granted it Magdeburg rights in 1597 (3: III).

The name’s origin is not entirely clear, but it most likely comes from the name of the river flowing past Lazdijai. The river’s name, too, gives rise to various doubts. The river’s official, authentic name, familiar and used in living speech, is Raiš-upis (it flows into Lake Rimietis). It is understandable that the town’s name could not have arisen directly from it. But the following account is possible, albeit uncertain.

The river name Raiš-upis may derive from an earlier form * Reis-upis, since in this dialect rei- changes to rai- because of the hardening of the consonant r (e.g., reiškia becomes raiškia). The root * reis- may also be a later, somewhat Lithuanianized form of * reis-. There is a basis for regarding this root * reis- as Yotvingian and connecting it with the Prussian word * reisīs or * raisos “nut” (17: I 261). It is true that the “pure” common noun * reisis or * reisas has not survived in Prussian, but we find it in the compound noun bucca-reisīs (* buka-reisis) “beech mast, beech nut” (18: II 262). As is well known, there are other Yotvingian place names in southern Lithuania whose origins have their key in Prussian: Lake Gáilieka near Seirijai—cf. Prussian gaylis “white”; Kirsnà river near Kalvarija—cf. Prussian kirsnan “black”; Lindė river near Lazdijai—cf. Prussian lindan “valley, ravine”; Lake Stabingis near Seinai—cf. Prussian stabis “stone,” and so on. Thus, there is a fairly solid basis for explaining the origin of the root raiš- in precisely this way.

Initially, the river’s name may have been a compound—* Reisio upė, * Reiso upė, or the like. In time, as often happens, the compound name coalesced into a single word: * Reisupis, later changing to * Raisupis, which, after some Lithuanianization, acquired its present name Raišupis.

Prussian * reisis or * reisus has the same root as Lithuanian rėš-utas, which derives from the earlier form * reiš-utas. And, as we know, nuts grow on hazel trees. So we arrive at the conclusion: we can connect the root * reis- (* rais-, raiš-) with the sound correspondence to the town name Lazdijai, lazd-. Most importantly, the river name Raiš-upis has the variants Lazda and Lazdija. It is true that these variants are known only from written records, but their authenticity is confirmed by the town name Lazdijai. Thus, at some point, the Yotvingian word * reisīs or * reisas was translated by Lithuanians—so alongside * Reisupis appeared Lazda and Lazdija. And from the plural of the variant Lazdija there also

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arose the town name Lazdijai. Settlement names are quite often formed in Lithuanian from the plural forms of river and lake names: Anykšta river: Anykščiai town, Šalantas river: Šalantai town, Veisiežis lake: Veisiejai small town, etc.

If this is indeed what happened, then we have one of the most interesting and unique cases of interference between Yotvingian and Lithuanian—more precisely, a calque from Yotvingian into Lithuanian. Such a translation is possible only in a bilingual situation. Thus, the assimilation of the Yotvingians must have taken place peacefully, calmly, through intensive interaction, often with people knowing both Lithuanian and Yotvingian. Otherwise, a semantic translation would have been impossible.

Lentvaris ⁽¹⁾. In 1596, the Lentvaris (Lentvariškiai) estate is mentioned. The settlement began to grow in 1861–1862, after the St. Petersburg–Warsaw railway was built (4: II).

The present name Lentvaris appears to be later, having developed from a longer, non-suffixed form. Initially, the place name was most likely formed with the suffix -išk-, cf. Лимоварышки, Litowaryszki in 1639 (110: 268—269), od folwarku Lentworyszeh in 1758 (21). J. Jurkštas, a researcher of Vilnius place names, emphasizes that 17th–18th-century documents predominantly use forms with the suffix -išk-: Лентваришки, Лантваришки, Лимоваришки, Литowaryszki, Littowaryszki, Littawaryszki (107: 30), Lantwaryszki in 1744 (111: 86). On the other hand, it is also clear that by the 18th century another form, with the Slavic suffix -owo, was already appearing: Lantworowo in 1784 (108). Later, this form became established: Ландварово in 1874, Ландверово in 1895, Ландверово in 1905, Lentwarowa in 1908 (21). The official Polish form was Landwarów. Thus, for a time, variants of the name with -išk- and -ow- apparently competed. There is no doubt that the present Lithuanian form Lentvaris is a late reshaping of Polish Landwarów ar pan.

Having established that the earlier form of the name had the suffix -išk-, we must determine which stem is most likely, since, as we have seen, both *lentvor- and *litovar- occur. The older form appears to be one with *litovar- or the like (107: 30). This would be an anthroponymic stem, connected with an anthroponym of the Chrebtavičius family, attested from the 15th century: владька луцкий Никифор... подскарбий наш Иванко Литавор Богданович Хребтовича 1487 m.; наместник Утенский, панъ Литаворъ Хребтовичъ 1487 m.; other spellings: Литавор, Литаворъ, Литаворъ, Литавору, Литаварова—all from the late 15th century (109: I 549), Литовъръ in 1507 (99: 555), пане Литаворове in 1507 (99: 565), пану Литаворовю c. 1514 (99: 843), пану Литаворовую in 1516 (99: 868), пану Литавору in 1516 (99: 869), пана Литаворове, панъ Литаворъ in 1516 (99: 820), панъ Литаворъ c. 1516 (99: 874).

Thus, it would have been a personal name *Litovaras or the like. As we can see, the stem of the place name *Litovariškės and that of the personal name *Litovaras are exactly the same: *litovar-. Therefore, it can confidently be asserted that the place name *Litovariškės is formed with the suffix -iškės from the personal name *Litovaras.

The forms Лентваришки, Лантваришки and the like are most likely blends of Landwarów or the like and *Litovariškės.

Linkuva ^(3ᵇ). At the beginning of the 16th century, Linkuva was already an estate; in 1584, it was a town (4: II).

The name is first mentioned, probably in 1371, in Wartberg’s “Livonian Chron-

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nikoje” – Linkowe (28: 99). This chronicle mentions Linkuva a couple more times: Linkowe in 1372 (ibid., 101), Linkowe in 1377 (ibid., 115). Later forms of the town’s name are similar: ку Линкову, двора Линковского in 1565 (57: 160), Подъ Линковомъ in 1594 (ibid., 361), Линковскій фольваркъ in the 16th century (35: 169), Linkawa, Linkawos in 1848 (89: I 119), Linkava in 1904 (32: XI 13). These spellings (especially Valančius’s) show that the earlier form of the name was somewhat different, namely, Linkavà. It is known not only from written sources but has survived in spoken language to this day.

It is still difficult to say when the form Linkuvà became established. As we have seen, in 1904 Vaižgantas still wrote Liñkavą. The prewar official list of place names, “Lietuvos apgyventos vietos” [Inhabited Places of Lithuania], already gives the form Linkuva (33: 306). Since then, it has become universally established in standard language.

Besides the town name Linkuvà, there is also a village called Linkuvà (Užliedžiai ward, Kaunas district). Its earlier form was also Linkuvà—“Lietuvos apgyventos vietos” still recorded Linkavos manor, Linkavos village (ibid., 71). In addition, before the war there was a small village called Linkuvà in Kruonis rural district, Trakai county. Part of Smalkiškiai village in Biržai district has the name Linkavai (or Linkavai). The stem linkav- also occurs in hydronyms: Linkavà stream near Krekenava, a left tributary of the Nevėžis; Linkava stream near Raseiniai, in Lenkeliai village.

The place name Linkuva (and similar names) is formed with the suffix -ava from Lithuanian lénkis, liñkis ‘hollow, valley; a slight indentation of a body of water into land, a bay; bend, curve’, lénkti ‘to bend’, or the like.

Liudvinãvas (2). A place in the Punia Forest where hunters once stopped and spent the night; it was called Trobomis. A village later grew up here, and the nobleman Liudvikas Konstantinas Pacas (died 1730) turned it into a town. Magdeburg rights were granted to the town in 1719 (60: 564–565).

Researchers agree that the town was named after the nobleman Liudvikas Pacas (60: 564; 6: III 202). The name would be a derivative of the personal name Liùdvikas, formed with the suffix -avas of Slavic origin (as in Aleksandrãvas, Endriejãvas, Jokūbãvas, etc.). However, it is unclear why the form is Liudvinãvas rather than *Liudvikavas. It is true that B. Kviklys believes the original variant of the name was *Liudvikavas, from which Liudvinãvas later developed. But this is quite difficult to substantiate, since, for example, the name of a village in Telšiai district was Liudvikãvas and has remained so to this day. Or again: E. Volteris and other sources mention the village name Людвиково in Balbieriškis rural district, Marijampolė county, in 1901, as well as the town name Людвитовъ (21). But these two place names have not become uniform. Therefore, there is no clear basis for thinking that *Liudvikavas somehow turned into Liudvinavù. This is especially so because, according to the data available to us, no spellings with k (*Liudvikavas or the like) are known. One would be left to suppose that, in creating the town’s name, Liudvikas Pacas did things his own way—simply formed the name he wanted, the one he liked; that is, he used the model ‘personal name plus the suffix -avas’ “creatively.” For example, the 1744 list of parishes in the Alvitas deanery records: Ludwinow (111: 185).

Maišiagala (1). A very old settlement, mentioned in the 13th century. Since the area had long been important in various respects, historical sources mention its name quite frequently; compare: Mitzegale in 1254 (28: II 137), Nitzegale in 1254 (the initial n here stands in place of m—see 106: 36), Meyszegele in 1364 (28: III 595), Meisegale in 1365 (ibid., II 86), Masgallen in 1366

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in that year (ibid., 553), Maisegal in 1385 (ibid., 693), Meysegaln in 1385 (ibid., 694), Meyegallen in 1385 (ibid.), Meisegal in 1385 (ibid., 696), off Mayzegayl in 1385 (ibid., 694), Meisegaln in 1385 (ibid., 695), Meyschegallen in 1387 (ibid., 633), Meisegalle in 1390 (ibid., 639), Misegallen in 1390 (ibid., 642), Maysigal in 1390 (ibid., III 162), Meisschengallen in 1390 (ibid., II 641), y Мойшокголе in 1442 (8: 120), y Мойшокголе in 1442 (ibid., 121), y Мойшокголе in the 15th century (ibid., 186), ез Мойшакголе in 1486 (ibid., 240), ез Мойшокголе in 1487–1489 (ibid., 266), ез Мойшокголе in 1490 (ibid., 314), y Мойшакголской волости in 1475 (ibid., 57), y Мойшокголе in 1442 (ibid., 120), съ корчомъ Мойшокголскихъ in the 15th century (ibid., 184), зѣ корчомъ Мойшокголскихъ in 1487–1489 (ibid., 251), до Мойшокголы about 1514 (99: 183), з Мойшакголы around the middle of the 16th century (62: 674), до Мойшакголы in 1564 (ibid., 762), до Мойшакголы in 1564 (ibid., 766), з Мойшакголы around 1564 (ibid., 783), dąmbrowy moyszagolskie in 1554 (57: 80), od ziem moyszagolskich in 1554 (ibid., 63), and so on. In Polish, the form Mejszagota eventually became established; in Russian, Мейшагола.

Although the spellings in historical documents vary somewhat, they generally reflect the present official form Mášiagala quite accurately (especially the forms Meisegale, Maisegal, and the like in the Order’s chronicles). Therefore, there is no doubt about today’s official name, Mášiagala. Moreover, it is still known in spoken language in our time (around Musninkai, Gelvonai, and elsewhere).

The name Mášiagala is a compound, formed from the root maiš- and -gal- with the connecting vowel a; compare also Eiriñgala, Lėkėnagála, Nõciagala, Tãrñagala, Zvãnagala (for more on similar place names and the element -gal-, see Ramýgala). The origin of the first element, maiš-, is unclear. It may be of anthroponymic origin. It is true that no personal name (present-day surname) *Maišys or the like is known. However, in Eastern Lithuania (Šešuoliai parish) the surname Maišėlis was recorded in our time (34: II 134). It may be a diminutive derivative in -elis from *Maišys or the like. In that case, the original meaning of the place name Mášiagala would be ‘*Maišys’s end, edge’ or the like. There are many analogies: Daukšiõgala—‘Daukšys’s end’, Nõciagala—‘Nõcys’s or Nõcius’s end’, Stavarỹgala—‘Stavaras’s end’, and others.

Marijámpolė (1). This is a relatively recent city. It is believed that until the 16th century the site of the present city was forested, and that colonists began to move into the area only in the 16th century. Colonization may have been accelerated by the Russian invasion of Lithuania in 1655. Refugees fleeing the Russians sought shelter in the forests of Sūduva. Those refugees founded the village of Pašešupys (or Pašešupiai) by the Šešupė River, first mentioned in the 1667 tax register of Kaunas county. In 1717, the Kvietiškis estate was established near the village, and a town soon began to grow up beside it. Pašešupys belonged to the Kvietiškis estate, whose owner was also the initiator of the town’s foundation. J. Basanavičius Square in Marijampolė is more or less on the site of Pašešupys village, which belonged to the Prienai eldership. The Prienai elder disliked the name Pašešupys and renamed the town Starapolė. This name is first mentioned in 1736. From then on, the name Pašešupys disappears from the documents.

As Starapolė was taking shape, another town began to emerge nearby. In 1750, the countess Butlerienė, Prienai’s female elder, obtained from the Marian monastery the Sta-

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to the priest and built a monastery and a church between the Šešupė and Jevonis rivers. Marian monks began to settle here, and Marijampolė took its name from them (the town was first mentioned under this name in 1756). In 1792, Stanisław August granted Marijampolė municipal rights and permission to have a seal bearing a coat of arms. Thus the town of Marijampolė gradually took hold, completely displacing the name Starapolė. Marijampolė is therefore a compound of two settlements—Starapolė and Marijampolė (6: III 149–151; 3: II).

The history of the town’s formation and growth also clarifies the origin of its name: it is a rather artificial, bookish name, formed from the name of the monastic order marijōnas and the element -polė. * Marijampolė is difficult to pronounce in Lithuanian, so it became Marijámpolė.

Several dozen settlement names whose second element is -polė or -polis are known in Lithuania. Their origins vary. But it is certain that the second element of some of them, -polė, -polis, may derive from the Greek noun polis ‘city, castle’. These are place names artificially coined by manor, grange, or other landowners in imitation of antiquity. For a long time, it was fashionable in Europe to create place names using classical models. The town name Marijámpolė may also echo this tradition: taken literally, it would mean ‘Marian polis’, that is, ‘city of the Marians’.

There is no obstacle to associating the second element -polė with the Greek polis plus the ending -ė, since no clearer connection exists between the place names with the endings -polė, -polis and the endings -ė, -is and the origins of these elements. For example, the second element -polis in the place names Bagnápolis, Koncepolis, Krasnópolis, Pūstápolis most likely derives not from Greek polis ‘city’, but from the Slavic languages—Polish pole, Russian and Belarusian pole ‘field’. The semantics of these place names show that this is indeed the case: their first elements, bagn-, konc-, krasn-, pūst-, derive from common nouns—Slavic loanwords in Lithuanian, e.g. bagnà ‘muddy place’, pūstas ‘empty’, or directly from corresponding Slavic words (Polish bagno, Russian and Belarusian болото; Polish koniec, Russian конец; Belarusian красны, Russian красный; Belarusian пусты, Russian пустой). Thus, for instance, Bagnápolis means ‘a sticky, wet field’, and Pūstápolis means ‘an empty field’, or something similar. In general, one can say that whenever the first element of place names ending in -polė, -polis can be regarded as deriving from a common noun, the second elements -polė, -polis are, almost without exception, to be considered Slavic loanwords (Polish pole, Belarusian and Russian pole).

Conversely, when the first element of such place names is a proper noun (usually a personal name), their second element -polė, -polis can usually be associated with Greek polis. Here, too, no clear connection can be seen between the endings -ė, -is and the origin. For example, Anápolė and Anápolis: their endings differ, but the first element most likely derives from the personal name Ana. Or again: Janápolė and Janápolis derive from Jónas.

In light of this, it seems more convincing to derive the second element of the name Marijámpolės from Greek polis: ‘city of the Marians’. There is, however, one ‘but’ here. As mentioned, the name of the village Pašešupys was changed arbitrarily (at the whim of the Prienai elder) to Starapolę. It is almost certain that both elements of this place name are Slavic loanwords: ‘staroje pole’—‘old field’. Thus, when the name Starapolė was replaced by Marijámpolė, the second element -polė of the older name may have been mechanically transplanted into the new name Marijámpolė. Nevertheless, it is more likely that the Marians themselves or their patrons consciously preferred to interpret the new name

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as ‘City of the Marians’ rather than ‘Field of the Marians’.

Merkinė (2). One of the oldest settlements in Lithuania. First mentioned in 1377, when the Teutonic Knights ravaged Merkinė Castle (6: I 430). Merkinė appears in the 1551 list of Lithuanian towns. In 1556, Sigismund Augustus reconfirmed Magdeburg rights for Merkinė. From the 16th century, the Merkinė manor and eldership are mentioned (3: II).

The early attestations of the name in historical documents are quite similar: Merken in 1377 (28: II 584), Merkenpil in 1377 (ibid., 587; this spelling clearly shows that a castle already stood in Merkinė in the late 14th century), Merken in 1393 (ibid., 653), Merkin in 1384 (ibid., 689), Merken in 1384 (ibid., 690), Merkin in 1384 (ibid., 691), Merken in 1385 (ibid., 696, 697, 698), Merke in 1387 (ibid., 699), Merkinpille in 1391 (28: III 176), Merkin in 1393 (ibid., 191, 264), Merkyn in 1394 (ibid., 627).

The origin of the name is clear: it is a derivative formed with the suffix -inė from the river name Merkys. Lithuanian has other settlement names formed in this way: Nemenčà river: Nemenčìnė town, Dàbrupis river: Dabrupìnė village, Tauragė district, Kiemsrūtas river: Kiemsrūtìnė village, Panevėžys district (41: 202).

Molėtai (1). The name Molėtai was first mentioned in 1387 in a letter from Jogaila to the bishop of Vilnius, on the occasion of the baptism of Aukštaitija and the establishment of the Diocese of Vilnius: ‘…we grant, as an eternal and irrevocable gift to that church and its future bishop, our Tauragnai Castle together with the territory adjoining it, and the villages of Labanoras and Molėtai’. Thus, at the end of the 14th century, Molėtai was still a village. In 1492, Duke Alexander confirmed this grant. Molėtai belonged to the bishops of Vilnius until the 18th century (6: II 42). Before the war, it was the centre of a rural district.

The origin of the name is not entirely clear. In theory, it could have been formed from the plural of a personal name, but no clear personal name such as * Molėtas is known. The present-day surname Moletà (known from the surroundings of Dusetos and Obeliai) is most likely a dialectal form of Meletà. It would therefore be difficult to prove that Molėtų derives from personal names.

It seems more plausible to associate the name Molėtai with the common noun molétas, moléta ‘clayey’, that is, ‘a clayey field, clayey soil’, or something similar. In addition, the common noun molétas can also mean ‘clay-coloured, brownish’. Thus, the original meaning of place names formed from the word molétas, -a may have been not only ‘clayey’ but also ‘clay-coloured’. The place names Molét-kalnis, a field in Leliūnai, and Molétai, a field and marsh in Joniškis (Molėtai district), support this assumption: Molét-kalnis would mean ‘a clayey or clay-coloured hill’, while Molėtai would simply mean ‘clayey fields’, or something similar.

Nemenčinė (2). An old settlement, mentioned perhaps as early as 1338 (4: II).

First of all, concerning the grammatical gender. In the past, spellings with -inc were occasionally found, for example, S. Gimžauskas’s: ‘How strange Nemenčinas is, that the native language defends itself’ (6: I 182), Nemenčinas in the 1908 newspaper “Viltis” (21). It is therefore useful to draw on evidence from historical documents: Нумененскуна in 1486 (67: 407), Немуненскуна in 1501 (ibid., 617), Неменчинское волости, у Неменчине, у Неменчине, у Не-

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менччинской волости (ibid., 23), Неменчинское волости 1495 (ibid., 611), двора Неменчинского 1514 (99: 117), Неменчинское волости 1516 (ibid., 407). The name is mentioned many times in the 1554 inventory of Nemenčinė and Linkmenys districts: do Niemęczyną (57: 37), do Niemenczyną (ibid., 38), z Niemenczyna (ibid., 40), od Niemęczyny (ibid., 52), do Niemenczyny (ibid., 54), od Niemęczyny (ibid., 79), od Niemenczyna, od Niemęczyma (ibid., 80), od Niemęczyna (ibid., 83). Other spellings include: Въ Неменьчьне in 1523 (82: 150), з Неменчина in 1567 (87: 449, 547), з Неменчины in 1567 (ibid., 561), Неменчинска 1566 (62: 882), Неменчинь in 1567 (87: 503), Неменчинь in 1678 (98: 491), imienia Niemęczynskiego in 1629 (70: 110), the estate of Jencmieniszek, alias Niemienczyna in 1629 (ibid., 329), Niemenczynensis in 1744 (111: 40), Niemeczyn in 1744 (ibid., 174), рез м-ко Неменчина in 1822 (65: III 59), в Неменчине in 1829 (ibid., 359), Неменчина in 1874 (113: 4), Неменчинь in 1874 (ibid., 49), Неменчинь in 1892 (83: 92), Неменчинь in 1904, Неменчинь in 1905 (21), and so on.

As we can see, two forms have long competed—one with a soft (-inė) ending and the other with a hard (-inas) ending. Even in the same document—the 1554 inventory of the Nemenčinė estate—the name is written in different ways: z Niemenczyna — od Niemęczyny, do Niemęczyna — do Niemenczyny. In Polish, the form Niemenczyn became established (13: II 534), and in Russian, Неменчинь. The Lithuanian standard is clear: Nemenčinė. There is no reason to doubt its correctness. As we have seen, historical documents have respected it since ancient times, and this is the form known to and used by speakers in everyday language. The name’s origin and formation also support this form, albeit indirectly: Nemenčinė is a derivative formed with the suffix -inė from the river name Nemenčia (for more on this type of place-name formation, see Merk inė).

Nida (2). The central settlement of the city of Neringa, established in its present location relatively late. Old Nida was about 2 km south of the present settlement, closer to the Baltic Sea. The town received Magdeburg rights in 1529. After Old Nida was buried by sand in 1675, its residents began settling farther north, and in 1732 they settled in present-day Nida (4: III). The villages of Skrzdynė and Purvynė had already been established nearby. Thus, Nida was formed from three small villages—Nida, Skrzdynė, and Purvynė (6: IV 680).

There are various uncertainties concerning the name’s earliest attestations. The descriptions of the Teutonic Order’s winter routes mention a locality Noyken twice, in 1386 (28: II 668, 670). The editors of the publication believe that this locality must have been on the Curonian Spit, near Rasytė: “Der Ort... kann Wohl nur in der Gegend von Rossiten auf der Kurischen Nehrung gelegen haben” (ibid., 668). This is most likely Nida. The consonant k in the name Noyken may have replaced d in *Noyden. R. Pietsch claims that in the Teutonic Order’s route descriptions, Nida was called noyden in 1437 (50: 26), Noyden (ibid., 27). B. Kviklys argues similarly (6: IV 680). However, neither specifies the source precisely, so it has not been possible to verify this claim—there is no Noyden or similar form in the index of “Scriptores Rerum Prussicarum.” We also do not find it in the works of other researchers, for example in I. Steponavičienė’s dictionary (106). Thus, the form Noyden remains hypothetical.

The name Nida has repeatedly attracted the attention of researchers. K. Būga was probably the first to explain the place name in detail. He linked it to a river name in the land of Prussia,

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In 1343 it was written Nyda, in 1420 — Neyde (German Neide-Fluss, Kr. Neideburg). The Poles pronounced this river name Nida. In K. Būga’s opinion, Polish Nida derives from Prussian *Neidā. This assumption is supported not only by the 1420 spelling Neyde and German Neide-Fluss, but also by the name of a river in Sambia, Neyden, in 1439; the name of a village, Neydowe, in 1332 (German Needau); Niedin-See < lake; *Niedinis Lake (now Latvian Niediņu-ežers). K. Būga also compared these place names with Celtic Nida (German Nidda, a tributary of the Main), Nida (a tributary of the Saar, Nied-Saar in German), and considered it possible to derive them from Sanskrit nédati “flows, streams” (2: III 241). J. Otrębski linked the Polish name Nida with the Lithuanian hydronyms Niedus, Niedulis, Niedà and, like K. Būga, derived them from nédati (43: 148).

J. Udolph recently examined European hydronyms such as Nida more extensively and comprehensively than anyone before him. He presented a whole series of river names containing nid-, neid-, including the Lithuanian place name Nidà (German Nidden). This author explained their origin in a similar way, linking them with Old Indic nédati < *neideti “flows, streams” (44: 181–186).

J. Udolph mapped European river names and other place names containing nid-, neid-. The map reveals a clear pattern: names with *neid- are widespread in eastern Europe, while those with nid- occur in the west. The sole exception is Lithuanian Nidà (ibid.). This fact alone gives reason to doubt whether the current form Nidà is original, the oldest form. As we have seen (although some authors, including W. Schmidt, doubt this—(69: 29)), the root in the Teutonic route descriptions from the late fourteenth century contains a diphthong: Noyken, Noyden. It is therefore possible to surmise that the vowel i developed later in place of the diphthong (-ai- or -ei-). Admittedly, this is not easy to prove, but historical spellings nevertheless reveal a tendency for a monophthong to arise in place of a diphthong. For example, the same river name from the land of Prussia, pronounced Nida in Polish (recorded by the Order in 1344 as Nyda), clearly had a diphthong in the root—Neyde. In 1420, the vowel i in the Polish form is a regular monophthong corresponding to Prussian ei (Lithuanian ie) (2: III 241). Another example is the Prussian place name Nedem, Neydem in 1389, Neydams Neyderes in 1430 (German Neydims), derived from the Prussian personal name Neydım and related forms, recorded in 1374 as Nydem (47: 108). Thus, it may be suspected that the root nid- in today’s name Nidà is later, having developed from the diphthong -ai- or -ei-. The evidence of the Curonian dialect of Neringa supports this idea. Prėila is pronounced Pelė (50: 40–41), Peleikis is pronounced Pelekis (ibid., 35). Such monophthongization is also characteristic of common words: veide is pronounced vėde, greite is pronounced grėte, and režė is pronounced rėže (51: 259).

The ending -a of the name also raises doubts. Earlier spellings would suggest that -a is later, developing from -e. In a register of place names collected from spoken usage in the late nineteenth century, V. Kalvaitis wrote: Nide, genitive Nidės (German Nidden) (45: 47). Local inhabitants (Curonians) still use the form Nide (46: 157). Most likely, Nide derives from *Nidē, that is, from *Nidžiai. The analogy of Prėlos lends strong support to this hypothesis. The current form Prėila is new—local inhabitants still used the form Prėilė in 1960, that is, Preilē. Compare also: “He goes to Preilius”; “the Preilių headland.” A Latvian variant of this name is also known: Preiļu bukte—in the Curonian Spit dialect—Maģâ un Dižâ Preiļu bukte (68: 52). According to F. Hinze, the Curonians currently use the form Prele (46: 157), which may derive from *Preile (that is, from *Preiligi). It seems that there were other variants of this name as well—Preili, Preiļi (69: 30). Thus, the ending -a and the stress pattern (Prėila) are new, unauthentic—

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... There is no doubt that the exact equivalent of Preiliai is the name of the Latvian town Preili (in Lithuanian it would be * Preiliai).

Lith. Preila (from Preilai) and Latv. Preili are place names probably derived from personal names—the surname Preilis is recorded in Latvia even today (52: 485). It is undoubtedly Latvian, related to Latv. preilis “an uninvited guest” or preilis “to cross two rods in a certain way to reinforce fabric.”

Thus, we arrive at the conclusion that the earlier dialectal form of Nidos was * Naidė or * Neidė, that is, * Naidžiai or * Neidžiai. Incidentally, the plural form is also supported, at least in part, by the spelling in the 1854 “Viltis,” for example: Nidų parapiją (21).

* Naidžiai or the like would be a place name derived from a personal name, primarily related to the Prussian personal name Noyde, and further to the Prussian place name Nayde-lauken in 1305 (47: 104), Latv. Naidiņa homestead, Naidiņi village (40: III 467), Lith. Naidai village in Širvintos District, Naidynė village in Šakiai District, Naidinai village in Šalčininkai District, Naidinė forest in Gruzdžiai rural district, and so on.

The origin of the root naid- is not entirely clear, but here too, as in the case of Preilos (Preilių), the most likely connection is with Latv. naids, naidu “discord, hostility, hatred,” naidugties “to be angry, quarrel, live in discord.” Compare also Lith. naidė “a scoundrel, a female swindler.”

Thus, it would become clear that the exception in eastern Europe involving nid- (Nida) noted by J. Udolph is in fact only apparent, since the place name Nida is neither a hydronym nor of hydronymic origin, but is derived from a personal name.

Ūnuškis (1). An old settlement. A church was built there in 1505; the Onuškis manor is mentioned in 1511, and in 1554 permission was granted to establish a town (4: III).

The name is undoubtedly derived from a personal name. It is thought that the place name Ywanendorf mentioned in the Teutonic Knights’ route descriptions is the same place as Ūnuškis (6: I 473–474). But there is also some uncertainty here, because another locality is mentioned nearby—Hannusdorf: “von Wirska bis czu Ywanendorfe ist iij mile... von Ywanendorfe bis czu Mantegirdendorfe ist ij mile, do vluest dy Salse... von Mantigirdendorffe bis czu Hannosdorfe ij mile; von Hannusdorfe bis czu Mynegelia dorfe ist ij mile” (“from Versekos to Ywanendorfe is one mile... from Ywanendorfe to Mantegirdendorfe is one mile, where the Šalčia flows... from the village of Mantigird to Hannosdorfe is one mile; from Hannusdorfe to the village of Mynegelia is one mile”). The route described runs from Merkinė via Perloja, past the villages mentioned, to Šalčininkai (“do nympt Salseniken eyn ende”). In other words, the journey proceeds northeast along the Merkys. It is therefore unclear why, while heading for Šalčininkai, a considerable detour north was made. If so, then some other localities, for example Dusmenys and Leipūnai, should also have been mentioned along the way at one-mile intervals, with Onuškis only beyond them. This raises the question whether those “villages of Ivano and Hanuso” are really present-day Onuškis. They may simply have been larger homesteads that later disappeared or were given different names. The same may have happened to the “villages of Mantigird and Minigailė”—there are no such places in Lithuania today.

However, if it should turn out that Onuškis can nevertheless be linked to one of the villages mentioned, then not to Ywanendorf, but more likely to Hannusdorf, because

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Ywanendorf is mentioned here first; after it would come Mantegirdendorf, and only then—Hannusdorf, the presumed Onuškis.

Be that as it may, the names of the villages mentioned, Ywanendorf and especially Hannusdorf (Hannosdorf), indicate that by the end of the 14th century there were already Ivans (“Johns”) and Hanuses (“Onushes”) in these lands, whose names could have been used to form place names.

In this particular case, the settlement’s name is associated with the personal name Hanusas, whose Lithuanian equivalent would be *Onusas. This assumption seems quite plausible also because there is evidence that the royal estate of Onuškis was established in the late 15th or early 16th century on the lands of the former royal village of Skundonys. The estate buildings were reportedly erected on the land of a serf named Anusas (Hanusas) (6: I 473—474).

Thus, despite the fact that the specific historical person after whom the town was named is not entirely clear, it is beyond doubt that the town’s name derives from a phonetic variant of the name Jónas.

It is worth noting that there are two settlements in Lithuania named Onuškis: besides the town in Trakai District, there is also a village in Rokiškis District.

These are place names formed with the suffix -uškis from the given name or surname *Onu-(as). It is true that such a surname or given name seems no longer to have survived in the living language, but, as we have seen, it may have existed earlier. This is indicated by the present-day surname Onusaitis—a derivative formed with the suffix -aitis from *Onus(as), or a similar form. The surname *Onus(as), in turn, is a loan, probably from Polish Hanus, Hanuš < Jan.

Place names with the suffix -uškis are uncommon and occur mostly in eastern Lithuania. They are formed only from personal names ending in -us: Bartkuškis (Širvintos District); Vaitkuškis (Ukmergė District); Vaitkus, Milkuškos (Švenčionys District); Milkus.

Thus, just as Bartkuškis, Vaitkuškis derive from Bartkus, Vaitkus, so Onuškis derives from *Onus(as).

Palanga (3ᵇ). One of the oldest settlements in our land. It is believed that in 1161 the Danish king Valdemar I landed here with his army. Palanga is mentioned in 1253 in the treaty between the Livonian Order and Courland: Palange (2: III 169). In the 12th–13th centuries, Palanga was an important trading center and Lithuania’s most important port; in the 16th–18th centuries it was the center of an eldership; in 1547 the town of Palanga is mentioned. It was included in the list of non-privileged towns of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania for 1529–1562 (4: III; 3: II; 6: IV 267).

Among other references, compare also Palange in 1372 (28: III 597), zu Palangen in 1425, Palangen in the 15th century (55: 18), Polonga in 1748 (48: I 328), and Polonga in 1755 (ibid., 380).

The place name Palangà recurs: the stream Palangà in Endriejavas parish, the meadow Palangà in Alsėdžiai parish, the bog Palangà in Varniai parish, and the pond Palangà in Kražiai parish. In addition, another Palangà is known from the Latvian part of Courland, near Kazdanga—it was written in German as Polangen (2: 169). The geography of this place name shows that, as K. Būga thought, it is a Curonian place name. This is especially indicated by the suffix -ng-, which was particularly characteristic of the Curonians (2: III 109, 789): Gandingà, Abìngà, Veringà, Būtinogė, Alangà, Čyžanga.

Consequently, Palangų is a derivative with the suffix -anga from words with the root pal-. Most likely, it is a physiographic term referring to lands, bogs, or similar features.

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nai — Lithuanian pālios “large bogs and wilderness in place of silted-up lakes”; Latvian palas, palas “marshy lakeshore,” paleja “lowland, valley,” pali “flood, inundation, overflow.” These words are very ancient and have cognates in other Indo-European languages—Dacian pala “pool, marsh, bog,” Latin palus “pool,” and the like (49: 241). The original meaning of Palangos was apparently associated with notions of damp lowlands, marshes, flooded meadows, and the like.

Pandėlys (3ᵃ). The town of Pandėlys is already mentioned in 1591 (4: II).

The earlier spellings are fairly consistent: Ponedеле in 1744 (111: 180), Ponedel in 1784, Ponedel in 1854, Понедель in 1881, Понедель in 1892, Понедель in 1845, Понеделе in 1915 (21), Pān(e)dėlio in 1904 (32: X 40), the parish of Pān(e)dėlio, Pan(e)dėlys (ibid., XI 26).

Thus, the earlier form of the name was apparently *Pannedelus. Later it shortened to Pandėlys. More cases of similar shortening are known, e.g., Panevėžys is often pronounced Panvėžys by inhabitants of the surrounding area.

The origin of the town name Pandėlys is unclear. Meanwhile, one would have to agree with J. Otrębski’s view that there are settlements in Lithuania whose names derive from the names of market days. These are said to include Serėdžius — from the Slavicism sereda “Wednesday”; Subãčius — from the Slavicism subata “Saturday.” To these could also be added *Panedėlys, Pandėlys — from the Lithuanian Slavicism pãnedėlis “Monday” (114: 56–57).

Pilviškiai (1). The village was founded at the beginning of the 16th century and received Magdeburg rights in 1536 (4: III).

Earlier spellings are similar: Пилавашки in 1589 (35: 231), Pilwiszki in 1738 (21), Pilwiszki in 1744 (111: 186), Pilwiszki in 1880, Pillwischken in 1816 (21), and so on.

Different opinions have been expressed concerning the name’s origin. In 1938, J. Totoraitis wrote: ”Pilviškiai is situated where the Pilvė flows into the Šešupė and, undoubtedly, received its name from that river” (60: 554). B. Kviklys doubts this etymology, since: ”In eastern Lithuania (around Nemenčinė, Vabalninkas, Kavarskas, and Anykščiai) there are another six villages and homesteads with the same name, although there is no Pilvė stream there... Further studies by linguists are still needed to clarify the name Pilviškiai more precisely” (6: III 422).

Later, J. Balčikonis (9: 250) and M. Razmukaitė (41: 203) derived Pilviškius from the name of the river Pilvė.

It seems there is no sound basis for doubting the hydronymic origin of Pilviškių. All the more so because this type of formation of settlement names is especially characteristic of Suvalkija: Aistiškiai village, Vilkaviškis district: Aista river; Amalūškiai village, Marijampolė district: Ãmalvos lake, Amalvė river; Gulbiniškiai village, Vilkaviškis district: Gulbinas river; Paikiškiai village, Marijampolė district: Paikis river; Pentiškiai village, Šakiai district: Pentã river; Šilūpiškiai village, Šakiai district: Šilūpis river; Vãiguviškiai village, Šakiai district: Vãiguva river (41: 203).

Regarding B. Kviklys’s doubt about how one should then regard other similar place names where there is no river named Pilvė or the like, one can say that they simply arose differently and have a different origin. Six such official oikonyms are currently known: Pilviškės village, Vilnius district; Pilviškiai village, Kurkliai rural district, Anykščiai district, and village, Debeikiai rural district, Anykščiai district; Pilviškiai village, Kupiškis district, and village, Molėtai district. These

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Six oikonyms are probably of personal-name origin—derivatives with the possessive suffixes -iškės or -iškiai from a personal name (given name, surname, or nickname) * Pilvius, * Pilvys, or the like. It is true that surnames of this kind have not survived to our day, but they certainly existed earlier—cf., for example, Jan Stanisławowicz Pilwo (57: 496). Moreover, even today a considerable number of derived and otherwise formed surnames with pilv-: Pilvaitis, Pilvėlis, Pilvinis, Pilvinskas are known. They also existed earlier, e.g., Wojciecha Wojciechowicza Pilwielia (57: 258).

Punià (4).

The place is mentioned in the chronicles of the Teutonic Order in 1382; in 1387 it was designated a town, a small castle. At the beginning of the 16th century it received Magdeburg rights (4: III).

The old spellings vary: Ponau, terra Punnow in 1382 (28: II 612), czu Pünnowe in 1384 (ibid., 689), czu Ponne, Von Ponne, czu Ponnaw, von Ponnaw in 1384 (ibid., 698), во Пуну in 1487–1489 (8: 247), во Пуну in 1490 (8: 315), Пуньскому (наместнику) in 1519 (99: 1025), Vlicza Puniška in 1561 (57: 638), s Pūniškiej vilicze in 1561 (ibid., 640), jego mci pūńskiej in 1561 (ibid., 661), Пуну in 1588, 1589 (35: 264), Пуну in 1597 (8: 2), съ корчомъ Пуньскихъ in the 16th century (8: 187), Punie in 1744 (111: 182), Пунская пуща in 1867 (93: 78). However, despite some variation in spelling (primarily the Order's chronicles using o instead of u), on the basis of the living-language tradition and the majority of earlier spellings with u, it can be asserted that the old form had precisely the vowel u in its root—Punià.

There are more place names with the root pun- in Lithuania: Punià, a field and a single-farmstead in Žeimelis rural district; Punèlė, a swamp in Onuškis rural district; Puniaĩ, a village in Taujenai apylinkė, Ukmergė district; and Puniškiai, a village in Šakiai district. Their origins are probably not all the same. The name Punià, referring to a single-farmstead and a field, is pronounced dialectally as Pùn’, and so may be * Punia. It would then have to be derived from Lithuanian pūnė, pūnė, pūnià ‘a partition in a threshing barn for piling chaff, a chaff compartment; a cattle shed; an open-sided enclosure, a farmyard; a hut, tent, cave, cavern, burrow’ (115: X 916–917). Opinions on the origin of these words have differed—A. Brückner, P. Skardžius (118: III 402), and later E. Fraenkel (120: I 667) considered them Slavicisms. Others, including later researchers, were certain of their Baltic origin—K. Būga (2: II 524–525), M. Vasmer (118: III 407), J. Laučiūtė (119: 20). These authors also emphasize that the corresponding words in Slavic languages are said to be Baltic borrowings.

The settlement names Puniaĩ and Puniškiai are derived from personal names—they arose from the surnames Pūnė, Punià, Pūnis, Pūnys or the like.

Thus the name of the town Punià remains very isolated and difficult to explain. It could be connected with the common nouns mentioned above, pūnė, pūnė, pūnià, but phonetics argues against such a connection—the long vowel ū and the short vowel u. One may speculate whether the short vowel u in the place name Punià is secondary, a later development irregularly derived from long ū: * Pūnia. It is true that some authors mention the common noun punė (118: III 407), but other sources, including the major Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, do not attest this form.

Semantically, deriving Puniõs from Lithuanian pūnė, pūnė, pūnià is very tempting, especially in view of the meanings ‘open-sided enclosure, farmyard, hut’, and the like. For at one time there were vast forests of Punia on both sides of the Nemunas, of which only the Punia Forest remains (6: III 580–581). When forests were colonized, names for certain kinds of dwellings—open-sided enclosures, farmyards, huts, and the like—often became settlement names.

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Another explanation of the name Pūnios is possible—one that is, in fact, perhaps the most convincing. Punia is situated beside a stream whose current name is Punėlė (a right tributary of the Nemunas). It is entirely possible that the earlier form of this hydronym was *Punia, from which the settlement’s name Punià arose. This is a common way of forming oikonyms. Later, as the settlement grew, the stream name *Punia acquired the diminutive suffix -ėlė. This, too, is a common development in Lithuanian hydronymy (see Ukmergė for further discussion). That this form of the stream’s name is indeed possible is shown by the lake name Пунь (вз Мерецкой пуще), recorded in 1873 (93: 79).

Ramýgala (1). Mentioned in historical sources from the 13th century. A church was built before 1492. In 1503 the town of Ramygala was mentioned, in 1525 a district, and in 1540 a manor (4: III).

The spellings in old documents are quite similar: Remgallen in 1370 (28: II 95), Remigalle in 1372 (ibid., 101), Remigeln in 1385 (ibid., 707), and so on. Thus the present-day form Ramýgala is apparently authentic and raises no particular doubts.

Ramýgala is a compound place name belonging to a fairly large group of formations with -gal- as the second component. What are these place names, and how did they arise?

There are about 130 settlement names in Lithuania whose second component contains the root -gal-. Most of them (about 40) end in -is, for example: Davondgalis, Kièvagalis, Mazgàgalis, Plinkàgalis, Vaidògalis, Žùdgalis. About 30 are plural, for example: Aščiagaliai, Geliògaliai, Gùdgalai, Laibagaliai, Ramòngaliai, Tiltagaliai; about 20 have the ending -ys, for example: Gudgalys, Nibragalys, Piktagalys, Trakagalys, Žudžgalys. In addition, a few place names ending in -ė are known (Daržgalė, Gaidžgalė, Grincagalė, etc.) and one ending in -as: Žąsūgalas. Nearly a quarter of the settlements under discussion have -gala as their second component. These place names have attracted the interest of more than one researcher, including K. Būga. They were examined most comprehensively by the French toponymist R. Schmittlein in his book “Lithuanian Toponymy” (53: 196–199). Unfortunately, this author reached an erroneous conclusion, supposing that place names with -gal- might be of non-Indo-European, indeed Finno-Ugric, origin. In fact, this is not so: as we have seen, formations with -gala make up only a small part of the large family of compound place names with -gal- as the second component.

These place names were formed in a wide variety of ways. Most have some connecting vowel between the first and second components, most often -o-: Ariógala, Baisógala, Daukšiògala, Dievògala, Eiriògala, Gerdžiògala, Gimbògala, Saudògala, Tendžiògala, Vytògala. Formations with other connecting vowels are somewhat less common, but fairly varied. With the vowel -y- (Betýgala, Latvýgala, Ramýgala, Stavarygala, Vetýgala, Žemýgala), with the vowel -a- (Birjàgala, Lieknagala, Màšiogala, Nòciagala, Tàrnagala, Zvànagala), with the vowel -ė- (Batėgala, Juodėgala, Vaikšnėgala), with the vowel -i- (Brazdigala), and with the vowel -u- (Kieliųgala). Forms without a connecting vowel also occur (Brūžgala, Puòdžgala, Žaìbgala, Žvejóggala).

The differing formation patterns of these place names are not accidental: they depend on the form of the word serving as the first component. For instance, the place name Kieliųgala is derived from the phrase Kielių gala(s), just as Žąsūgalas is derived from Žąsų gala(s). The first component of most of these place names may be of anthroponymic origin. Place names with an unmistakably personal-name first component include Daukšiōga-

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la— compare the surnames Daukša, Daukšis, Daukšys; Geržiógala— compare Geržius; Vytógala— compare Vytas; Brūžgala— compare Brūžas; Vaikšnégala— compare Vaikšnys; Stavarīgala— compare Stāvaras; Nōciagala— compare Nocys, Nōcius, and so forth. But the first component may also be a common noun: besides the already mentioned Kielīgala and Žąsūgalas, compare also Žemýgala (žemas ‘low’), Lieknagala (lieknas ‘slender’), Žvejōtgala (žvejoti ‘to fish’), and so on.

The origin of the first component ram- in the town name Ramýgala is not entirely clear. The connecting vowel -y- would seem to indicate that the stem-final element of the first component must have been -i- or -y. In that case, it would be more convenient to derive this component from the personal name *Ramys or the like (“*Ramys’s end”). However, no such personal name is known, at least not as a current surname. Second, as P. Skardžius established, the connecting vowels -i- or -y- in compound words are very difficult to explain, since there are various inconsistencies—compare darbymetė: darbas, saldýmedis: saldùs, šaltýmetis: šáltas, and so on (22: 420–421). Third, it appears that the town name has a namesake as well: the name of a meadow, Ramýgala (Kupiškis, Griciūnai village). In addition, there are other place names with rami-. These include the hill name Ramìkalnis (Radviliškis) and the marsh name Ramìraistis (Vievis). Names of hills and marshes may also be of anthroponymic origin; more often, however, they are formed from common words. Therefore, in the town name Ramýgala, as well as in the meadow name Ramýgala, the hill name Ramìkalnis, and the marsh name Ramìraistis, it seems more convincing to derive the first component ram-y-, ram-i- from the adjective ramùs, ‘quiet, silent, peaceful’. This would be a formation similar to saldýmedis: saldùs, viršūkelė: viršùs, and so on.

It is true that one may wonder whether the root ram- here is ancient, since Poles pronounce the town’s name Remigola. Spellings with rem- are also quite old in historical documents: Remgallen in 1370, Remigalle in 1372, Remigola in 1503, Remigota in 1854 and 1895, and so on (21). However, it seems that the spellings with rem- are not authentic. First, forms with ram- have also been known since ancient times: в Ромикзоле in 1569, з Ромикзолы in 1567 (ibid.), Ромигола in the 16th century (35: 276). Second, spoken language clearly attests to a form with ram-. Compare also Vaizgantas’s recorded form Ramýgalė (32: XI 10). K. Būga emphatically recommended Ramýgala (2: III 58).

The second component -gal- of compound place names is apparently related to the Lithuanian noun galas. This word means not only ‘end’ but also ‘area, region’. Latvian gals may have a similar meaning. Thus, for example, Daukšiógala means ‘Daukšys’s end’, Žvejōtgala means ‘the area where fishing is done’, and Kielīgala means ‘the Kieliai area’, and so on. But still—why does the word end in -gala rather than -galys, -galis or -galiai? Let us compare the common nouns rankógális, kojógalis, šiaudagalýs. Then might -gala derive from -galė? That can sometimes be the case, since most place names with -gala occur in dialects where the consonant l is hard, so word-final -lė changes to -la (sáula, kiáula). However, this is far from always the case, since quite a few place names with -gala lie outside the area where l is hardened: Arñógala, Dzievógala (Veiveriai), Geržiógala (Vaiguva), Vytógala (Skaudvilė), Latvógala (Papilė), and others. Other interpretations must be sought for these. Perhaps the most convincing is this: place names ending in -gala are very old, formed at a time when, in joining two words, the stem-final element of the second component could remain unchanged (for example, the personal name Gin-tauta—compare tautà). But then why -gala and not

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end? Most likely because the word end may also have had the neuter form * end in ancient times. And from it most compound place names with -end may have been formed.

As for Ramygalos and other place names ending in -gala from dialects in which -lė changes to -la, it is not impossible that the final -la in some of them arose through hardening of the consonant l from -lė-; compare Vaižgantas’s aforementioned spelling Ramygalė.

Whatever the case, Ramygala is a compound place name, formed from the adjective ramùs ‘calm’ and the noun gãlas ‘end’. Its original meaning was ‘a calm end, a peaceful place’ or something similar.

Raséiniai (1). The town is situated by the Raseika stream. It is one of the oldest towns in Lithuania. The name is first mentioned in 1253 in the acts of Mindaugas, when, in gratitude to the Order for military assistance, he granted it part of Samogitia together with half of Raseiniai district. In 1254 Mindaugas mentions Raseiniai again, when he donated the remaining half of Raseiniai district to the first bishop of Lithuania, Kristijonas. In documents, the name is spelled in various ways: Rasseyene in 1253, Rassione in 1253, Rassegene in 1254, territorium Russigenam in 1322, Rosgeyn in 1352, Rogeyne in 1357, in Rossyn in 1370, terre Rossiene in 1370, Rosgeynenses in 1375, Russenia in 1377, Rossieyn in 1385, czu Rossieen in 1390, Rossieyn in 1395, czu Rosseyn in 1405, Rossein in 1409, czu Rosseijne in 1418, Rosienny in 1419, and so on (55: 63–64; 6: IV 488).

Another variant of the name is also known in spoken language—Resėinjus. Its root vowel e is apparently newer, secondary—as is shown first of all by the spellings in historical documents (with the vowels a or e). Moreover, even today, somewhat south of Raseiniai (for example, around Veliuona), the word-initial ra- sometimes changes to re- (ràvas—rèvas). This phenomenon may once have been more widespread.

The ending -einys is another matter. It is entirely possible that it is the earlier, older form. The name of the town Kėdėnai changed in a similar way, for instance—its earlier form was Kėdáinys.

A counterpart to the town name Rasėiniai is known in Latvia—the village name Rasaņi. In general, place names with the root ras- occur in both Lithuanian and Latvian. Compare Lithuanian Rasėlė, a field near Ramygala; Rãsos, a suburb of Vilnius; Rasýtė, a town on the Curonian Spit; Latvian Rasa, a field; Rasa, a village; Rasene, a meadow; and Ras-upi, a village. Thus, the authenticity of the root ras- in Baltic place names is beyond doubt. On the other hand, the root ras- is also possible; compare Prussian Ressow, a lake, and Resen, Resia.

Place names with the root ras- are usually derived from Lithuanian rasà ‘dew’, rasóti ‘to fall, form, or gather as dew’, rasénti ‘to drizzle, mist, or rain lightly’, and Latvian rasa ‘dew’. These words have cognates in other Indo-European languages: Sanskrit rasáh ‘the name of a mythological river situated somewhere at the edge of the world’, rásah ‘juice, liquid, fluid’, and so on.

There is some uncertainty about the name Rasėiniai in the sense that it is not entirely clear whether it arose directly from the common nouns mentioned above or may have originated in some other way. Of the other possible ways of forming it, two merit attention: 1) one may speculate whether Rasėiniai, Raséinys are of anthroponymic origin, since, for example, Kėdėiniai, Kėdáinys were derived from the surname Kėdáinis or a similar name. However, at least at present, no surname *Rasėinis or the like is known, so proving an anthroponymic origin for Rasėiniai would be very difficult. All the more so since, as we have seen, the town’s name is mentioned from the mid-thirteenth century,

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that is, from the period when Lithuanians did not yet have surnames. Thus, if we consider Raseiniai to be of personal-name origin, we would have to agree that a Lithuanian name *Raseinis already existed at that time. This assumption is also highly doubtful; 2) it is perhaps more plausible to regard Raseiniai as having originated from a river name. It is true that the river’s name today is not *Raseinis or the like, but Raseika, Raseikà, Reseikà, Rūs-upis. Thus, the town and river names share a root, but their suffixes (second components) differ. For this reason, it would be difficult to derive the town’s name with complete confidence from the aforementioned river name, or any of its variants. But it is not impossible. In that case, we would have to agree that there was another variant of the river name—*Raseinis, *Raseinė or the like. Until there is clearer evidence that such a variant existed, the hydronymic origin of Raseiniai will remain only an assumption, a hypothesis. Yet of all the proposed explanations for this place name’s origin, it is perhaps the most plausible.

Semeliškės (2). An old Lithuanian settlement. It is believed that around 1276–1283 Grand Duke Traidenis settled in Semeliškės Prussians and western Lithuanians who had fled from the Crusaders. In 1375, the village of Semeliškės is mentioned. The locality is listed in the 1529–1567 register of non-privileged towns of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (4: III).

The name, with the suffix -iškės, is derived from a personal name. It is not entirely clear which one, since the present form Semeliškės differs from historical spellings. The stem of the town’s name as recorded in documents varies considerably. The more important variants are:

* samil-: Samilisken in 1385 (28: II 700);

* simel-, *simol-, *simil- or the like: Symliken in 1375 (28: II 579); Symelischen in 1385 (28: II 707); Symyliskin in 1384 (28: II 697); Symolischen in 1377 (28: II 589), Symoliskin in 1385 (28: II 696);

* sumil-³ сумилшков 1577 m., сумилшского 1577 m., сумилшскую 1577 m. (55: 219—220), Sumily 1784 m., Sumilišchy 1784 m., 1798 m., Сумилшки 1873 m.(21);

* sumel-: Сумелишки in 1839, 1861–1865, 1874, Sumeliškės in 1908, Sumeliškio in 1938 (21).

Thus, the differences between the stems are obvious. Nevertheless, there is reason to suppose that the earliest stem was samil-. This is indicated first by one of the oldest (1385) recorded forms, Samilisken. Second, a historical figure named Samilis or the like is known—cf. Samile, Pomesanus (“Samile the Pomesanian”) (28: I 121, 464). As mentioned, at the end of the thirteenth century, Prussians and western Lithuanians fleeing from the Crusaders were settled in the vicinity of Semeliškės. Third, and perhaps most importantly, there is evidence in historical sources concerning the surroundings of Semeliškės. Particularly important among these are the 1577 register of land plots in Papleškiškė (57: 219—222) and the 1597 inventory of the Samiliškės (Semeliškės) district (ibid., 479—490). The town’s name is recorded in them a dozen or so times—here are all the recorded forms: 1582: самилшисково (p. 225), самилшиские, самилшиского, при Самилшиках, самилшиския, Самилшиком, Самилишок (p. 227), Самилишок (p. 229); 1597: samiliskiey (p. 479), somiliszkych (p. 484), samiliszskych (p. 485), Somiliszskiego (p. 486), Somiliszskiego (p. 487), somiliszskiey (p. 488), somiliszskich (p. 489), w Somiliszkach (p. 490). These clearly show that the original stem variant was samil- (the variation between the vowels a and o may be explained by the influence of Slavic languages).

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Since these documents relate directly to Semeliškės and its surroundings, it may be surmised that the town’s name mentioned in them reflects its use in everyday speech. Naturally, at that time it may have varied even in the speech of local people, but the predominant form was probably *Samiliškės.

Thus, the town’s name is a derivative formed with the suffix -iškės from the West Baltic personal name Samulis or the like. This type of formation of settlement names is particularly characteristic of Lithuanian.

The form *Samiliškės has been distorted in various ways since long ago—owing to the fault of scribes, the influence of other languages, and so on. It is now difficult to say when Semeliškės finally became established, since, as we have seen, variation still occurred in the first decades of the 20th century. The official 1925 list of Lithuanian settlement names already gave the form Semeliškės (“Semeliškės rural district”). No variation has been observed since the war.

Thus, *Samiliškės is one of the oldest formations of settlement names in Lithuania with the possessive suffix -iškės.

Skaudvilė (2). The historical records are late: the town is mentioned only from 1766 onward (4: IV), although it is beyond doubt that the settlement existed earlier as well (1: II 5–6).

The name is probably of anthroponymic origin, as the stem skaudvil- clearly indicates. Personal names with this stem have survived in everyday speech to the present day—the current surnames Skaudvilas and Skaudvilė (34: II 733). There is no doubt that settlement names have been formed from these surnames. First, the name of a village in Kražiai rural district, Kelmė district: Skaudvilai. The name of a village in Kurtuvėnai rural district, Šiauliai district, Skaudviliai, is formed in a similar way. It attests to the existence, alongside Skaudvilas, of the related personal-name form *Skaudvilis. In other words, the village name Skaudviliai was formed from the plural of the compound personal name *Skaudvilis. That such a personal name is indeed possible may also be inferred, at least in part, from a 1645 document from Batakiai rural district (held at the Lithuanian State Archives—F. 1671. Ap. 4. B. 321). In it, a personal name is mentioned about 19 times, written in quite various ways, but most importantly, sometimes with the hard Polish consonant l and sometimes with the soft one: Pana Mikołaja Skowdowila (1. 43), Pana Mikołaja Skowdwita (1. 43), Pana Uwojnia j Pana Skowdwila (1. 43), Pan Mikołaj Skowdwil (1. 44), Pana Skowdwila j Pana Uwojnia (1. 44), Skowdwila (1. 45), Pan Mikołaj Bartoszewicz Skowdwil (1. 45), Pan Mikołaj Skowdwil (1. 45), Pan Skowdwil (1. 47); Panu Mikołaju... Bartoszewiczu Skowdwilu (1. 45), Panie Skowdwilu (1. 46), Panu Skowdwilu (1. 47), Pana Skowdwila (1. 47), Pana Mikołaja Skowdwila (1. 48). The soft consonant l here is probably not accidental, because throughout the document (written by the same hand) the hardness of the consonant l is marked very consistently—as is clearly evident, among other things, from the marking of hard l in every instance of the name Mikołaj. It may therefore be surmised that the soft consonant l reflects the pronunciation of local people—not Skaudvilas or the like, but *Skaudvilis. This assumption is also supported by the fact that the instrumental case of the personal name is written in this way in two of its three occurrences: Panom Mikołajem Skowdwilem (1. 43), Panom... Skowdwilem (1. 47). Once: z Panom Mikołajem...Skowdwilem (1. 44). The spelling Skowdwilem confirms that the form *Skaudvilis could indeed have existed—

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. This is shown especially clearly by the designation of *Skaudvilis’s wife:...i matronie two-jej... Mikołajowej... Bartaszewiczowej Skowdwilewoj... (1. 45). If the ending of the husband’s personal name had been hard, its feminine form would have been *Skowdwilowoj.

Thus, in the 17th century, the personal name *Skaudvilis may still have been known in Skaudvilė or its neighboring areas.

Alternation between the stem-final -as and -is in old compound personal names is a common phenomenon in Lithuanian. More precisely, personal names with the stem-final -is are as if derivatives (adjectival) of variants in -as: Beinoras: Beinoris, Būivydas: Būivydis, Daukantas: Daukantis, Gintautas: Gintautis, Jotautas: Jotautis, and others.

The town’s name Skaudvilė ends in -ė. Thus, it cannot have arisen from Skaudvilo (in that case its plural would be *Skaudvilai, like the aforementioned village name Skaudvilai in Kelmė district). It remains to suppose that the name Skaudvilė may derive from the plural of the variant *Skaudvilis. In dialect, the plural would be *Skaudvilė. In the writings of that period, the long dialectal ending -ė was rendered with a simple (short) -e: Skaudvile in 1850, Skaudville in 1854, Skaudvile in 1862, Skaudville in 1862, Скаедвиле in 1881 (21), and so on. Primarily due to the influence of the official written form *Skaudvile, the variant ending in -ė eventually became established in everyday speech as well: Skaudvilė. That this name may earlier have been plural is at least partly confirmed by the spellings Скаедвилам in 1892, 1895, 1915 (21), and so on.

Stakliškės (1). The locality is mentioned from the late 14th century onward; in 1513 it is described as a town (4: IV).

Earlier spellings: in Staghelisken in 1375 (28: II 106), Stakelisken in 1385 (ibid., 696), въ Стоклишкохъ in the 15th century (8: 194), у Стоклишкахъ in 1486 (8: 242), въ Стоклишкахъ in 1487–1489 (8: 267), въ Стоклишкахъ in 1488 (8: 294), в Стоклишкахъ in 1490 (8: 313), Стоклишскому in 1519 (99: 1026), Parocho Stakliscensi in 1593 (21), poddanych stokiškich in 1597 (57: 481), Stokliski in 1665, Stokliski in 1816 (21), and so on.

The origin of the name is unclear. It is thought to derive from the common noun staklės ‘looms’ (6: I 394). However, this etymology also raises doubts—first and foremost because derivatives with the suffix -iškės apparently are not formed from common nouns with semantics such as that of staklės ‘looms’ (124: 94–96). Thus, the appellative origin of Stakliškės is difficult to substantiate. It must therefore be supposed that this place name may have been formed with the suffix -iškės from a personal name. One such personal name (surname) is attested even today—Staklevičius (from Alovė). However, its stem stakl- and the connection of this stem with Lithuanian staklės would again raise doubts. Most likely, Staklevičius is a shortened form of *Stakelevičius, which, with the Slavic suffix -evičius, would be formed from the surname Stakelė, Stakelis or the like (34: II 794). Thus, the connection between Stakliškės and the present-day surname (very rare—one family) Staklevičius is also doubtful. What, then, is the solution?

The answer is suggested by the very earliest mentions of the name in the chronicles of the Teutonic Order: Staghelisken in 1375, Stakelisken in 1385. These show that the earlier stem of the place name was probably not stakl-, but rather *stakek-. In that case, the original form of the place name, *Stakeleškės, could be regarded as a formation with the suffix

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-iškės derivatives from a personal name, now a surname, Stakėlė, Stakėlis or the like. This assumption would seem entirely convincing if we did not know that the surnames Stakėlė, Stakėlis are diminutive-suffix -el- derivatives of Stakė, Stakas, Stakys or the like. These surnames, in turn, derive from Lithuanian Stachas, Polish Stacl, Belarusian Смач, Russian Сташ, and so on. These, in turn, derive from Stanislovas or Eustachijus (ibid., 790). Thus, deriving the town's name from personal names Stakėlė, Stakėlis or the like presupposes that in the late 14th century Lithuania already had not only the baptismal names Stanislovas and Eustachijus, but also shortened forms of them—Stachas, Stakas or the like. Could this have been so? It could, since more such cases are known. For example, the same descriptions of the routes of the Teutonic Knights mention the village names Hannusdorf and Ywanendorf (late 14th century). Hannus and Ywan here are variants of the baptismal name Jónas: Hannus is more Polish, while Ywan is East Slavic. These personal names have already become village names (for more, see Onuškis). Thus, it is entirely possible that in late 14th-century Lithuania there were names Stanislovas and Eustachijus, along with variants, shortened forms, and the like.

Thus, the personal-name origin of Stakliškės seems quite plausible.

Sudárgas (1). At the beginning of the 14th century there was a castle at Sudargas, burned by the Teutonic Knights in 1317. A village was founded in the early 16th century. It received Magdeburg rights in 1792 (4: IV).

Local residents now often pronounce the name Sudérgas (6: III 305). This pronunciation does not seem to be new. It is true that the chronicles of the Teutonic Order record Sudargen hof in 1317 (28: I 590), but, for instance, the 1561 inventory of the Jurbarkas district and Naujoji Valia (Virbalis) mentions the name many times and writes it only with suderg-: šiola Svdergow (57: 575), Siolo Sudergi (ibid., 576), siolv Svdergom (ibid., 577), przy śiele Svdergi (ibid., 583, 586, 591, 592, 594, 595, 597, 598, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608, 609, 610, 611, 612, 614, 615, 617, 619). Of course, we should not conclude from this that the earlier form must also have had suderg-. Later spellings also contradict this assumption (e.g., Cydargu in 1901, Cydarpu in 1902, Sudargi in 1912—21), as does the form of the personal name from which the town's name is derived, which is sudarg-.

Researchers agree that the town's name Sudárgas derives from the compound personal name *Sudargas. In this case, we have an instance in which the historical person after whom the locality was named is also known: this was the Samogitian nobleman Sudargas, mentioned in the chronicles of the Teutonic Order: “Mansto et Sudargus et alii nobiles de Samethia” in 1308 (28: I 174), Sudargus in 1311 (ibid., 177), viri dicti Sudargi in 1317 (ibid., 183), der was ein sun Sudargen (The Rhymed Chronicle of Nicolaus von Jeroschin on the Prussian lands—ibid., 560), Manste mit Sudargen (ibid., 572), Masie mit Sudargen (ibid., 579), Sudargen (ibid., 589, 590).

Thus, the town's name derives from the singular form of the personal name *Sudargas. More place names formed in this way are known (85).

Šakiai (4). It is thought that a village called Šakaičiai once stood on the site of present-day Šakiai; it is first mentioned in a 1599 deed recording the division of the brothers O. Tembovskis's estates. The surname Šakaitis is also recorded there. In 1703, the village of Šakaičiai is mentioned in the visitation record of the Samogitian bishop Jonas Jeronimas Krišpinas. The name Šakiai is also mentioned by 1719. Šakiai received Magdeburg rights in 1776 (6: III 297; 3: III).

The history of the locality also shows how the name Šakiai arose. Apparently, in fact, at first-

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The earlier form of the town’s name was Šakaičiai (not preserved in the living language). Over time, the suffix -aičiai must have been dropped, leaving only Šakiai. Although such a development of the name seems quite plausible, it is nevertheless a very rare phenomenon in the formation of settlement names. We therefore have to explain the mechanism behind this distinctive change. The matter is as follows.

V. Maciejauskienė, a specialist in the history of the formation of Lithuanian surnames, noted an interesting phenomenon that has scarcely been studied to date: during the period when surnames were becoming established (the 18th–19th centuries), patronymics sometimes became surnames through the dropping of their former patronymic suffixes. This phenomenon is especially characteristic of Suvalkija. One such patronymic suffix is -aitis. For example, in the Zanavykai region, a surname is recorded in 1715 as Urbantaitis, but by 1775 as Urbantos. Or: in the village of Ramoniškiai in present-day Šakiai District, a surname is recorded in 1731 as Stelmokaitis, but by 1821 as Stelmok. There are many such examples from present-day Šakiai District alone (19: 115–116). Thus, at some point a person with the patronymic surname Šakaitis must have lived where present-day Šakiai stands. That this surname really existed is shown by the aforementioned 1599 document, as well as by the fact that the surname Šakaitis was also found in the Šakiai area in our own time. As long as the surname Šakaitis retained its suffix, the village was called Šakaičiai. When the surname Šakaitis of the people living in this village lost the patronymic suffix -aitis and became Šakys or something similar, the village too began to be called Šakiais. In other words, both place names—Šakaičiai and Šakiai—derive from different variants of the same surname. The former derives from Šakaitis, the latter from Šakys. The latter surname is common even today—it is borne by about 60 families.

Thus, Šakiai is a place name of anthroponymic origin, formed from the plural of the surname Šakys. This type of settlement-name formation is especially characteristic of Lithuanian.

Šeduva (3b). Mentioned from the 16th century onward, when a church was established in Šeduva in 1529. By 1542 Šeduva was already called a town, and in 1554 it received Magdeburg rights (4: IV).

The relatively late first mention would suggest that the settlement bearing this name is not very old either.

The origin of the name is not entirely clear. The spellings in historical documents would suggest that the form Šeduva is later, having arisen from *Šedava or the like. Cf.: Szedów 1542, do granicy szadowkiej 1572, оць местечка Шадовскаго 1585 (21), Шадовский 1590 (35: 328), Шадово 1591 (same source), Szadowiensis 1646 (48: I 284), pod Szadowem 1713 (84: 270), Шадово (21), Szadow 1755 (48: I 382), Шадовскаго 1764 (21), szadowska 1775 (54: II 118), Szadowa 1803 (65: III 114–116), Szadow 1803 (same source, 117–122), Szadow 1816, Szadow 1843, 1849, 1855, Шадово 1881, Шадовъ 1895, Шадово 1915 (21). Thus, the earlier variant of the name was apparently *Šedava or even *Šadava. It may be regarded as a derivative with the suffix -ava from the personal name, now a surname, Šėdas, Šėdis, Šedys (about 70 families), Šadas, Šadis, Šadys, or the like. This would be a place name formed in a similar way to Jonavà: Jōnas, Aleksandravà: Aleksandras, Alizavà: Alýzas (Aloýzas), and so on. This word-formation model arose under the influence of Slavic languages, and the suffix -ava here is of Slavic origin.

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How did *Šedava (*Šadava) change into Šeduva? This happened because many Lithuanian place names with the suffix -ava underwent a similar change. These, however, are place names of a different character: old formations of Lithuanian (Baltic) origin, whose root as well as suffix -ava is Lithuanian: Linkuva — Linkuvė, Dotnuva — Dotnuvė, Bartuva — Bartuvė, Vėrduva — Vėrduvė, etc. It is therefore quite possible that the somewhat different, hybrid formation *Šedava (*Šadava) was also drawn into this stream of change, changing -ava to -uva along with the others.

Šešuoliai (2). The area has been known since 1334, when the Teutonic Knights ravaged Šešuoliai. In 1398–1420 a village of Šešuoliai is mentioned; in 1478, an estate; in 1539, a district; and in 1567 a church and a town were established (4: IV).

The origin of the name is clear—it was formed from the plural of the river name Šešuolė (a left tributary of the Siesartis). This is a common way of forming settlement names; cf. Dūklą river: Dūklos town, Anykštą river: Anykščiai town, Viešintą river: Viešintos small town, Kamaną river: Kamanai small town, Žiežmarą river: Žiežmariai town.

Only the form Šešuoliai itself may give rise to doubt, since present-day pronunciations include Šašuoliai for the town and Šašuolė for the river. This form also entered the official Dictionary of Lithuanian Hydronyms (58: 102). In another official list of place names, the town’s name is written Šešuoliai (66). So which form is older, the original one? Abundant historical-source evidence helps answer this question first: Sicculen 1334 (28: II 67), Ѕессолен 1375 (same source, 105), Schechuli 1425 (67: 121), Schescholi 1449 (same source, 217), Scheszule 1478 (same source, 364), Scheschuhy 1495 (same source, 499), Szeszole 1539, в Шевосолъ 1567, Szeszole 1572, Шешово 1567, Шешовское 1567, Шешовское 1618, Szeszuli 1652–1672, Szeszepri 1726, Szeszole 1784, Szeszolki 1784, Szeszolli 1830, Шешоли 1864–1865, Шешоли 1873, Шешольки 1874, Шешоли 1895, Шешоли 1905 (21), and many others. Of particular importance are local documents—16th- and 17th-century inventories—that give the name Šešuoliai, since they may reflect the pronunciation of the local people better than other sources. Among these is the 1554 inventory (57), which records: ziem szyszolskich, ziem szeszolskich, ziem szeszolskich, y szeszolskiey (p. 72), Szeszolskiego, y szeszolskich (p. 74), szeszolskiey, Szeszolskiego (p. 101), y szeszolskich (p. 105). The name is written similarly in 17th-century documents (70): Szeszol 1696 (p. 410), w Szeszolach 1696 (p. 410), Szeszolskiego 1698 (p. 424), w Szeszolach 1698 (p. 424). The spellings of the name on town maps show almost the same thing: Шешолъ 1850 (1: VII 43), Шешоль 1850 (same source, 44), Шешолы 1869 (same source, 45), Шешоли 1869 (same source, 46).

These historical-document records allow the unequivocal conclusion that the older, original form of the town’s (and river’s) name had šeš-: Šešuolą, Šešuoliai. Having established this, we must determine when and why the form with šaš-—Šašuolą, Šašuoliai—arose in the present-day speech of local people and some people in the surrounding area (71: 167).

It is difficult to determine when forms with šaš- first appear in historical sources. The earliest record known to me dates from 1507: в Шаволе

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(2: I 229). In any case, as we have seen, the written tradition is clear—to use the form with šeš. At least the town’s name, officially, does not seem to have been used otherwise—the “Inhabited Places of Lithuania” gives the form Šešuoliai (33: 504), as do other official lists—Šešuoliai (72: 168; 73: 508), Šešuoliai (66: 302).

The form with ša- (Šašuola, Šašuokiai, Šašuoliai) was apparently first recommended for the standard language in the 1948 “Dictionary of Lithuanian Spelling” (74: 422). A. Salys later endorsed it (13: II 253—254; 555), as did some other publications. However, the official form of the name remained Šešuoliai (66: 302; 73: I 369; II: 418).

The dialect form Šašuoliai did not become established, apparently because it was still not in general use among local people in 1957. Researchers of the Šešuoliai dialect recorded the following sentence: “Važiavom Šešuolykų dvaran” (76). In addition, cases of the initial še- changing to ša- occur in these areas, albeit rather sporadically: šašius “šešius”, šaši “šeši”, šapetys “šešetys” (77: II 104), šašiolika “šešiolika”—this word was recorded in 1957 by E. Grinaveckienė in the nearby village of Ulyčeliai (76). All this indicates that the form Šašuoliai may be relatively recent, arising through a possible change from še- to ša-, through folk etymology (cf. Lithuanian šašas, šašuoliai “one who is covered with scabs,” and the like), and, finally, especially in written forms with ša-, through the influence of Slavic languages, since it has been observed that in documents written in Slavic languages the initial še- in this and other place names is often rendered as ša-: Шапужы (Šešupė) 1559, Шапуня (Šešupė) 1873 (21), Шадово (Šeduva) 16th c., Шапужуца (Šešūvis) 16th c. (35: 328—330), Szaszawa (Šešuva) 1784, Шапужны (Šeškūnai) 1905, Szaszkinnie (Šeškynė) 1939 (21), etc.

Šiauliai (4). It is thought that the town began to develop at the end of the 11th century. Šiauliai is mentioned in the chronicles of the Teutonic and Livonian Orders after the famous Battle of Saule in 1236—the name is written as Saule, Saulia, Saulen. There can be no doubt that this is the name Šiauliai, and that the battle acquired the name Battle of Saule later, in our own times. This is a variant of the name Šiauliai mentioned in the chronicles, read literally and only slightly Lithuanianized. It was once believed that the Battle of Saule had taken place not near Šiauliai but in Latvia, near Vecsaule. However, K. Būga proved that the Battle of Saule took place in Lithuania (2: III 263). That the name Saulia, Saulen in the chronicles and present-day Šiauliai are one and the same name is confirmed by the source evidence: in a German document written in Latin in 1254 concerning the partition of Semigallia, the places Opiten and Saulen are mentioned as belonging to the Archbishop of Riga and the Order. Clearly, these are Upytė and Šiauliai. The Chronicle of Wartberg notes that in 1358 the Order destroyed the castle Dobitzen in Saulia. There is no doubt that Saulia is Šiauliai, while Dobitzen may be Padubysys (6: III 9—11; 4: IV). In 1522 Šiauliai is mentioned as the center of a district, in 1524 as a town, and in 1636 as a city (4: IV).

The origin of the name is not entirely clear. Most likely, however, it is a name derived from a place of origin, formed from the plural of the personal name—and now common surname (borne by more than 160 families)—Šiaulys. This type of formation of settlement names is especially characteristic of Lithuanian.

Švekšna (1). It is mentioned from the 16th century onward (3: III). In 1509 Švekšna was the estate and town of Kęsgaila, the elder of Samogitia (4: IV).

There is no doubt that the town’s name is of hydronymic origin. It must have arisen from the earlier form of the name of the present-day stream Švėkšnalė (a right tributary of the Ašva), *Švėkšna.

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That such a form is indeed possible is shown by the name of a river in the Vaiguva area, Švėkšna (a tributary of the Knitė). Moreover, historical documents first mention not the town’s name but the river’s: Swejsna, flus, 1384 (1: II 26; 55: 68). Cf. also the 1880 record: “przyjmuje...Szweksznie, Wilkupis” (21). Thus the town’s name Švėkšna arose from the river name *Švėkšna.

Although the origin of the name is clear, its form is open to question. A few years after the river name was first mentioned, another form of the name appears in the same descriptions of the Teutonic Order’s routes to Lithuania: von der Sweten, 1387 (55: 68); perhaps *Švekšla or the like. A. Salys suggests that Švėkšna had a variant form, also recorded in later sources, for example, on a 1526 map of Samogitia: Swyeesny and Schwegsten (1: II 29); in J. Sprog[o]gis’s 16th-century dictionary of Samogitian place names: Швекшины and Швекшмы, Швекшине and Швекшмы (35: 330). The variant form must have persisted for quite a long time—cf. do Schwerkstenau, 1790 (21)—but in the 18th and 19th centuries the present-day variant clearly became dominant: Szweksznianskey, 1695; do Szwekszni, 1784; Szweksznianska, 1784; Szwelksznis, 1843; in Szweksznie, 1843; Szweksznie, 1854; Szweksznie, 1855; Швекшане, 1895; Швекшины, 1892; Швекшмы, 1915 (21), and so on.

Švenčionys (3). It is thought that Švenčionys was already a district center in the 13th century. In the early 16th century it was the estate of Vytautas the Great, who had a church built there in 1414. By 1486 Švenčionys was already referred to as a town (3: IV; 4: IV).

The origin of the name is unclear. There are two possible ways in which it may have arisen.

The first is that the name is a derivative formed with the suffix -onys from the lake name Šventas. Moreover, there seems to have been a small river called Šventė in the lake system comprising Šventas, Ilgys, Miškinis, Juodynas, and others. It has not been possible, however, to determine which stream it was or what it is called today. Settlement names formed in this way are fairly common in eastern Lithuania: the Merà river: Meriõnys village, Pabradė area, Švenčionys district; the Svylà river: Svyliónys village, Adutiškis area, Švenčionys district; the Mylė river and lake: Myliónys village, Švenčionys area and district; the Mėžia, Mėžė rivers: Mėžiónys village, Adutiškis area, Švenčionys district, and others. Thus, there is no doubt about the mode of formation. However, the villages listed are located on or near the rivers after which they are named. Lake Šventas (and the Šventė river) lies a dozen or so kilometers north of Švenčionys, so the connection between the lake (river) and the town’s name raises some doubts. But it is not impossible if we accept that the first inhabitants of Švenčionys had come from Lake Šventas (or the Šventė River). Consequently, there are fairly strong arguments for the town’s name being of hydronymic origin.

On the other hand, the possibility that the town’s name Švenčionys is of anthroponymic origin cannot be ruled out at all—it may have been formed from the plural of the personal name, now a surname, Švenčionis. This is one of the most common ways of forming settlement names in Lithuanian (Butrimai village: Butrimas, Antėnai village: Antėnas, Morkūnai village: Morkūnas, etc.). However, at least in our time, the surname Švenčionis has not been recorded in the Švenčionys area. It is rare overall—only five families: three from the Kaišiadorys area, and one each from Jieznas and Joniškis. It may therefore be suspected that the place of origin of the surname Švenčionis is somewhere around Kaišia-

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doris — Jieznas. There are several lakes in these areas named Švenčius: in the vicinity of Aukštadvaris, Onuškis, and Vievis. In addition, not far from Semeliškės there is a lake named Švenčius. The thought naturally suggests itself that the surname Švenčionis itself may be a place-name, a derivative with the suffix -onis from the lake name Švenčius or Švenčius. In that case, the hydronymic origin of the town name Švenčionys would seem more convincing.

Tauragė (3b). It is first mentioned in historical sources in 1507, when a church was built. Tauragė is already marked on O. Magnus’s 1539 nautical map (3: IV). From then on, the town’s importance steadily increased.

The town lies at a bend in the Jūra River. Another stream, the Beržė, flows along Tauragė’s eastern edge.

It should be emphasized that besides the town of Tauragė, there are four other places in Lithuania bearing the name Tauragė: a meadow near Žarėnai (Telšiai District), a meadow near Gelvonai (Širvintos District), a hillfort near Tryškiai (Telšiai District), and a farmstead in the vicinity of Kurkliai (Anykščiai District).

The name Tauragė, shared by all five places, is a compound formed from the words tauras and ragas: *Taur-ragė.

As is well known, in ancient times large-horned aurochs ranged in Lithuania’s forests. These animals must have been extraordinarily important to Lithuanians, since there are several dozen place names in Lithuania derived from the word taūras: Taurakalnis, Taurakalnis (hills), Taurija, Taurė (rivers), Taurinė, Tauriškė, Taurūtė (meadows), Tauresnė, Taurėlis (lakes), Taurai, Taurėlaukis, Taurinė, Tauriščiai (villages), and many others.

The second element of the place name *Taur-ragė, rãgas, meant not an animal’s horn but a corner, bend, or curve. Thus, the original meaning of the place name Taur-ragė was “the aurochs’ horn” or “the aurochs’ corner”—apparently, this was what places where aurochs roamed, lived, grazed, or the like were called.

Thus, all five of Lithuania’s Tauragės are places, corners, horns where aurochs were found. As for the town name Tauragė, it may have received its name from a bend (horn) in the Jūra River, which at one time may have been called “the Aurochs’ Horn” or “the Aurochs’ Corner.” The compound place name Tauragė would later have developed from this phrase.

Telšiai (3). The valley of Telšiai (Talsa) is mentioned in the chronicle of the Teutonic Order in 1317 (6: IV 28—29; 3: IV). The settlement is mentioned in 1398. In the 15th century the Telšiai manor is mentioned, and in 1527 the district (4: IV).

The hydronymic origin of the town name is certain—it most likely arose from the plural of the name Tėlšė or Telšė, a river flowing past the town (in 1597 the river name was recorded as Telszua). Although it is possible that there was once a lake called *Telšys or the like—it is recorded as Teaswa in 1584 (cited by J. Sprogis). The possibility that *Telšys existed is also indicated by the fact that “Slownik geograficzny...” (late 19th century) gives the river’s name as Telszys (2: III 242). Whatever the case—whether the town name Telšiai arose from a river or a lake name—it is still a hydronymic place name. Lithuania has many settlement names formed from the plural of a river or lake name: Jūžintas lake: Jūžintai, Kriaunà river: Kriaunos, Širvinta river: Širvintos, Kamajà river: Kamajai.

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Utenà (3b). The first news of Utena dates from the time of Mindaugas—Utena was mentioned in 1261 (Utten). A church was built in 1416, and from the 14th century Utena became an eldership (6: II 8—9; 4: 4).

The town’s name is undoubtedly hydronymic in origin. It belongs to a sizeable family of place names with the stem uten-: Utenėlis Lake Utena, Utenėlės village, Utenaitė or Utenėlė river in the town of Utena, flowing from Lake Utenaitis; Utenos Lake in Tauragnai District—from its name, with the diminutive suffix -ykštis, the name of a smaller lake located there, Utenykštis, was formed. The village name Utenėlė arose from the river name Utenėlė. The town name Utenà probably originated from an earlier form of the river name Utenaitė or Utenėlė, namely *Utena. Thus, there must have been a river named *Utena. Without undergoing any change, it became the town name Utenà. This is a popular way of forming settlement names: Rūsnė river: Rūsnė town, Vilnia river: Vilnia (an earlier form of the name Vilnicus), Dysna river: Dysna village, etc. When the river name *Utena became the town name Utenà, the river name was transformed, acquiring the diminutive suffixes -aitė, -ėlė: Utenaitė, Utenėlė. This, too, is a common phenomenon in Lithuanian (for more detail, see Utenergė).

Valkininkai (2). The settlement has been known since the 14th century. In 1418 the Valkininkai manor and town are mentioned; in 1503, the district; in 1516, the town. It received Magdeburg rights in 1571 (4: IV).

The name’s origin is unclear. First, the beginning valk- may raise doubts, since the form without the consonant u: Olkieniki has become established in Polish. However, this form seems to be secondary, later. J. Otrębski has offered a fairly convincing explanation of how it arose. In his view, Polish Olkieniki, like some other place names of similar structure (e.g., Varėna—Polish Orany), arose through fictitious decomposition from the phrases “w-Wolkienikach,” “w-Wo-ranach.” Their sequence “w Wo-” could only have been pronounced “Wo-.” When the consonant w was understood as a prefix, the forms *W-olkienikach, *W-oranach were divided into two components, W Olkienikach, W Oranach, whose second elements (Olkienikach, Oranach) later prevailed as independent idioms (80: 118).

Earlier records also show that the root valk- is genuine. It is thought that the settlement was first mentioned in Jogaila’s 1387 letter to Skirgaila: “на елнука тая волость”. J. Jakubowski seems justified in believing that this spelling was a printing error made by the editors of the text—the original must have read волкинницкая волость (81: 25). Subsequently, for a long time, the form with valk- predominated: у Волкинниках in 1450 (8: 58), у Волкинках in 1466 (ibid., 74), ў Волкиноках in 1475 (ibid., 33), и Волкиноках in 1495 (ibid., 628), Wolkininki in 1503 (1: II 57), Волкинники in 1516 (83: XXV; appendix 27), Волкинники in 1541 (65: I 36), з Волкинник in 1557 (62: 563), до Волкинниц in 1563 (ibid., 710), з Волкинник in 1564 (ibid., 762), з Волкинник in 1566 (ibid., 826), у Волкинниках in 1597 (8: 6), and so on. It is difficult to determine exactly when the form with olk- began to appear, but it is clear that this happened rather late. It is certain that it was already in use in the 18th century; cf. Olkieniki in 1784 (21), Олькеникского in 1835 (1: II 71), Олькенники in 1861–1865 (21), and so forth.

Regarding the name, one can say that it has the suffix -inink- and the root valk-. Other variants are also known in the dialect—Valkininkai, Valkinýkas. As the aforementioned 1503 spelling Wolkininki shows, the suffix -inink- is apparently quite old.

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However, it is difficult to say what this derivative with the suffix -inink- (-inyk-) originally meant. One can only surmise that it was probably formed from some other place name with the root valk-. Derivatives with the suffix -inink- formed from hydronyms are particularly characteristic of southern Lithuania: Angininkei village, Alytus District; Lake Angų, Dėlgininkai village, Lazdijai District; Lake Dūlgas, Dūgininkai village, Varėna District; Lake Ignis, Spenglininkai village, Trakai District; Lake Spengla, Strevininkai village, Kaišiadorys District; the Širėva River, and others. However, no river or lake named *Valka, *Valkys, or the like is known in the vicinity of Valkininkai, at least at present. It therefore remains to suppose that Valkininkai is a derivative with the suffix -inink- from the name of some other place—a marsh, forest, meadow, or the like. There are many such names in southern Lithuania: Valką pasture in Rudnia District, meadow in Varėna District, forest in Kaišiadorys District, marsh in Aukštadvaris District, stream in Kamėnė District, meadow in Marcinkonys District, meadow in Šalčininkai District, Valkos meadow in Daugai District, forest in Dieveniškės District, field in Vydeniai District, and others. Clearly, it is impossible to determine which specific one of these (or other) place names gave rise to the name Valkininkai.

Veliuona (3). One of Lithuania’s oldest and most important settlements. It is thought that Junigeda Castle stood on the site of present-day Veliuona until 1315; from the beginning of the 15th century there was the Veliuona district, and from 1421, the town (4: IV; 6: II 328—340; 3: III).

“Veliuona Castle is already mentioned from 1315: Wilhun in 1315, Welun in 1336, Welow in 1337, Welum in 1339, castrum Wilawense in 1343, castrum Welun in 1348, Welun in 1357, 1360, 1362, 1363, 1364, 1367, ort Welunenfell in 1394, der Welone in 1416, Weluna in 1416, 1417, Welona in 1418, Wolona in 1418, Weluna in 1419, Willun in 1430, oma Велионы in 1493, Безионское волости in 1528, and so on (55: 71);

The town’s name derives from the name of the river Veliuona (a right-bank tributary of the Nemunas).

Vilnius. The currently prevailing view is that the name Vilnius was first mentioned in 1323 in Gediminas’s letters to German towns and monasteries. One of them reads: ”in civitate nostra regia Vilna” (”in our royal city of Vilnius”).

Thus, at that time Vilnius was already not only a large city but also the capital. It is understandable that a long time must have elapsed between the city’s founding and its becoming the capital, but how long is not yet known; therefore, for now, 1323 is considered the date of Vilnius’s founding. It is true that it is sometimes conjectured whether Vilnius might be mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon document whose composition began in the 10th century. In the “list of peoples” inserted into this document later, we read “Violena and Vilna and Vala rices” (“rices” here means “kingdom, region”). Some believe that Violena and Vilna may be our “Veliuona and Vilnius,” but in the absence of evidence, this remains only a conjecture for now (13: II 173).

After 1323, the name Vilnius is mentioned very often in historical documents, for example, in the chronicles of the Teutonic Order: ante Vilnam in 1365 (28: III 84), Vilnee in 1365 (ibid., 86), vor die Wilne in 1367 (ibid., II 560), Vilne in 1377 (ibid., III 112), in Vilna in 1377 (ibid., 104), in Vilna in 1381 (ibid., 117), de Vilna in 1382 (ibid., 122), Vilne in 1390 (ibid., 165), Wilne in 1414 (ibid., 447, 448); in other documents: to de Vilne in 1323 (13: 173), Wilne in 1397 (67: 50), Wilne in 1398 (ibid., 64), Vilna in 1387 (ibid., 6, 10), Vilna in 1469 (ibid., 304), Vilna in 1486 (ibid., 404),

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Vilna 1493 (ibid., 464), Vilna 1503 (ibid., 649), ę Busne 1421 (136: 33), na Busne 1430 (ibid., 34), y Buksen 1421 (ibid., 56), na Busne 1430 (ibid., 57), во Вильне, к Вильну, нар. Вилни 1446 (ibid., 61), во Вилно, к Вилну, из Вилки 1446 (ibid., 62), в Вильне, к Вильну, у Вильни, Вильно, з Вильны, late 15th–early 16th century (ibid., 85–86), у Вильны 1510 (99: 3–6), у Вильны 1511 (ibid., 68), у Вильны 1513 (ibid., 34), у Вильны 1533 (62: 44), у Вильны 1529 (ibid., 76), у Вильны 1542 (57: 21), do Wilnia 1554 (ibid., 131), (w) Wilnie 1560 (ibid., 139), y Вильне 1592 (ibid., 330), (w) Wilnie 1597 (ibid., 479), w Wilnie 1550–1552 (ibid., 558), and so on. Thus the predominant form in old historical documents is Vilnia. This is neither accidental nor erroneous. It appears that the form Vilnia (with stress on the vowel i in the first syllable) was formerly also widely used in the living speech of people in eastern Lithuania. This usage is still occasionally found today (around Ramygala, Gelvonai, Šeduva, Gervėčiai, and elsewhere). There is no doubt that Vilnia is an authentic fact of spoken language. The Latvian Vilya confirms this.

There is now little doubt about the name’s origin—it arose from the river name Vilnia. This name has been used since ancient times for the left-bank tributary of the Neris, which is now often called the Vilnelė. But Vilnelė is a new name, formed from the Polish form Wilenka. It is not easy to explain how and when this happened or, finally, what relationship Vilnia bears to the Neris’s second name, Vėlija. For a fuller discussion, see the article “The River Names Neris and Vilija” (this book, p. 230).

The formation of names for inhabited places (cities, towns, villages, and the like) from river and lake names is very characteristic of the Lithuanian language. There are also many cases in which a river or lake name becomes the name of an inhabited place without any word-forming devices: Rūsnė—from the river name Rūsnė; Dysna—from the river name Dysna; Dūkštas—from the lake name Dūkštas; Alovė—from the river name Alovė; and so on.

Thus the city name Vilnia arose from the river name Vilnia. But, as we know, it did not take root in the standard language—another variant of this name, Vilnius, took its place. This form is not new either: it was already used by M. Daukša (“Postilė,” 1600; D. Kleinas, “Gramatika,” 1653) and other pioneers of our written tradition. It remains, then, to explain how Vilnius came to exist alongside the earlier form Vilnia. Although not everything is clear here, one may suppose that there was more than one reason. First of all, it should probably be emphasized that the ending -ius is fairly characteristic of Lithuanian place names: river names Skródžius, Várus, Vỹčius, Slánkius, Skričiùs, Vingrius, and others; lake names Tvanùs, Gilius, Švenčius, Stìklius, and others. Alongside forms ending in -(i)us, the same name can sometimes have a variant with a different stem: Rìngus—Ringą, Gilius—Gìlis, Božius—Božą, Niedùs—Niedis. But perhaps the most important reason that activated the stem alternation characteristic of Lithuanian (Vilnia—Vilnius) was the spelling of the name Vilnius with the ending -o. Such forms are quite old, for example, Wilno 1324 (13: 173), Vilno 1381 (28: II 718), Wylno 1397 (67: 8), Wylno 1449 (ibid., 216), and the like. The reasons for their emergence are not entirely clear. Most likely they

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arose in Polish as the regular equivalent of Belarusian words with an unstressed ending -a: Belarusian Смецка — Polish Stećko, Belarusian Адамка — Polish Adamko, Belarusian Бенька — Polish Bienko, and so on. Forms of the name Vilnius ending in -a have been known for a long time and are numerous: Vylna 138⁰ (67: 6, 10), 1469 (ibid., 304), 1486 (ibid., 404), 1493 (ibid., 464), 1503 (ibid., 649), and so on. Thus the form ending in -a in Polish changed into a form ending in -o. Proper names written with the ending -o in Polish regularly take the ending -(i)us in Lithuanian: Polish Stańko — Lithuanian Stańkius, Stańkus, Stónkus; Polish Staszko — Lithuanian Stāškus, Stoškus; Polish Paszko — Lithuanian Poškus, and so on. Apparently, this model of adapting proper names from Slavic languages, especially Polish, in Lithuanian also contributed to the transformation of Vilnia into Vilnius.

Historical documents record other variants of the name Vilnius as well. The Order’s chronicles particularly often use a form without the consonant n after l: Wille 1365 (28: III 84, 550, 552), die Wille 1377 (ibid., II 223, 590; III 105), contra Willam 1377 (ibid., III 589), in Wyllam, Willen 1379 (ibid., II 605), die Wille, czur Wille, der Wille 1379 (ibid., 712), vor die wille 1381 (ibid., 607), Willam castrum 1382 (ibid., 611), burg. Wille 1382 (ibid., 602), and so on. In general, it should be said that in the Order’s chronicles, forms without the consonant n after l are more common than all the others (106: 65—67). A. Salys notes that Wigand of Marburg mentions the name Vilnius about 20 times: he writes Wille, Wylle, Willa, Wylle, and only once Wilna (13: 174). In one place this chronicler explains: “Post hec transeunt in Wyllam, Willen vulgariter” 1379 (28: II 605). Forms without n are also found in German-language documents written by the Livonian Order (Villen 1422, Vyllen 1427). On the basis of this fact, A. Salys conjectures that in the chronicle the word “vulgariter” may have been used in the sense of “in German” (rather than “in the vernacular,” “ordinarily,” or the like) (13: 174). Apparently, this is a purely German phenomenon that entered documents written in other languages (e.g., Latin) from German. How it developed in German is unclear. Perhaps, as A. Salys thinks, it is a consequence of the weak declension in German (ibid.).

Old writings also attest to another variant of the name Vilnius, with the consonant d after l: für die Wilde, die statt Wilde (28: II 588), für die Wilde (ibid., 576), vnd zur Wilde, zur Wilde (ibid., 621). All these spellings occur in the comments or appendices by C. Schütz, a chronicler of the early sixteenth century who drew extensively on the lost manuscript of Wigand of Marburg’s chronicle. They are therefore most likely this historian’s reworkings of forms such as Wille, Willa, or similar forms (13: 174). The form Wilde from Wigand of Marburg’s chronicle later also found its way into some other writings.

Virbālis (2). Virbalis began to develop in the early sixteenth century, after the western border of Lithuania was established by the Treaty of Melno in 1422. At that time, settlements—first of all, guard posts—began to be established along the entire border. Until the eighteenth century, Virbalis was officially called Nova Volia, although the name Virbālio was also used concurrently. The locality is mentioned in the 1529–1567 list of unprivileged towns of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1593 it received Magdeburg rights and a coat of arms (3: III; 6: III 379).

The name Virbālis is believed to have been mentioned for the first time in 1559 (ibid.). The town was surveyed in 1558–1560. In 1560, Sigismund Augustus’s

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In the report on the measurement results, it is written: Вирбилово (1: VIII 76). Later, the stem virbal- took hold: Вирбалова in 1565 (62: 804), Wirbaliske in 1595 (1: VIII 84), Wierzbołow in 1613 (ibid., 85), Wirbaliski in 1679 (ibid., 88), Wierzbołow in 1738, Верболова in 1753 and 1779, Wierzbałowen in 1760; Wirballen in 1798 and 1816 (21). In Polish, the forms Wierzbołowo or Wierzbołów became established; in German, Wirballen; in Lithuanian, Virbalis (13: II 564). K. Būga mentions the form Virbalius (2: II 19). Thus, the stem of the town's name is undoubtedly virbal-.

There are also more place names with virbal- in Lithuania. Virbalai village in Jonava District, village in Lazdijai District, village in Pasvalys District, village in Ukmergė District, village in Skuodas District; Virbališkiai village in Kaunas District, village in Kupiškis District; Virbaliūnai village in Batniava rural district, Kaunas District, and village in Raudondvaris rural district, Kaunas District. They are all most likely derived from personal names—namely, from the present-day surnames Virbalas, Virbalis. Regarding the town name Virbalis, it may be said that it was formed from the singular of the personal name Virbalis. Such formation of settlement names is quite common in Lithuanian (85): cf. Sudargas village in Šakiai District: Sudargas, Skuodas town: Skuodas, Kavárskas town in Anykščiai District: Kavárskas, and so on. The personal-name origin of Virbális is also confirmed by forms with the suffix -išk-: Wirbaliske in 1595, Wirbaliski in 1679. These would be derivatives formed with the suffix -išk- from the personal name Virbalis. The Polish forms Wierzbołowo, Wierzbołów point to the same pattern—cf. Polish Adamowo: Adam, Aleksandrowo, Aleksandrów: Aleksandr, Augustowo, Augustów: August, etc. Moreover, there are also many other cases in which, in Polish, derivatives in -owo became established in place of earlier Lithuanian forms in -išk-: Adamiški village in 1784 — Adamowo in 1939, Alexandryszki village in 1784 — Aleksandrowo in 1939, Janiszki village in 1784 — Janowo in 1939 (86: 385).

Zarasai (3ᵇ). From the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, the area belonged to the Bishop of Vilnius. At the end of the fourteenth century, the Zarasai estate is mentioned; in 1522, the town (4: IV).

The town name Zarasai was officially used until 1836, when, by order of the tsar, the town was rechristened with the Russian name Novoaleksandrovsk. This remained its official name until 1918. After Lithuania became independent, the town received yet another official name in 1919, Ežerėnai, which remained in use until 1929, when, after lengthy disputes and protests by specialists, the old name Zarasai was restored. Although the variant Ežerėnai officially came into use in 1919, similar attempts had been made earlier. For example, around 1902 K. Jaunius proposed calling Zarasai Ežerūnai. Such proposals arose from a complete misunderstanding. Zarasai had long been written in Polish as Jeziorosy (the earliest known attestation dates from 1522). Those Jeziorosy sound rather like Zarasai—indeed, they are a certain semantic and phonetic adaptation of Lithuanian Zarasai, or even *Azarasai. Therefore, when it was proposed to restore the former name to Novoaleksandrovskiui, not only Jeziorosy but also Zarasai came to be regarded with suspicion. Without investigating the matter closely, Jeziorosy was rejected along with Zarasų, and in their place the artificial name Ežerėnai was chosen, a name never used by local residents.

What Zarasai is has been aptly explained by K. Būga (2: II 19–21) and later researchers. Their work shows that Zarasai is a place name inherited from the Selonian language. In Selonian, the consonant ž was pronounced like z. Thus the Selonians pronounced the word ežeras ‘lake’ as *ezeras, *ezaras, or something similar. From this word, with the suffix -asas, the lake name was formed,

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which in Selonian sounded like *Ezerasas or *Ezarasas.

The formation of lake names with the suffixes -asas and -esas was characteristic of the Selonians, for example: Čėdasas < *Ked-asas (Panemunis), Svėdasas (Svėdasai), Būdasas (Vyžuonos), Brādasas (Utena), Laūkesas (Šmalvos).

From the plural of the lake name *Ezerasas or *Ezarasas came the name of the settlement (later, the town) *Ezerasai or *Ezarasai. Such formation of settlement names is also entirely natural in northeastern Lithuania: Svėdasas lake: Svėdasai town, Čėdasas lake: Čėdasai village, Jūžintas lake: Jūžintai town, etc.

The settlement name *Ezerasai or *Ezarasai, after the Selonians disappeared, was transformed in the speech of local Lithuanians into *Azarasai. This severed the etymological connection between the former common Selonian words *ezeras, *ezaras and *Azarasai. As a result, the place name was shortened by losing its initial vowel a: *Azarasai became Zarasai. There are other instances of such shortening: the lake name Asavilas (Pabradė) became Savūlas; the word ašūklės ‘currants’ became šūklės, elementorius became lementorius; the personal name Erāzmas became Razmas, Razmų, Rāzmus, and so on.

Thus, the town name Zarasai is an ancient Baltic place name, one of the most striking monuments of the language of the Selonians, an extinct Baltic tribe.

Žagarė (2). It is mentioned in historical sources in 1253 or 1254 (written Sagera).

The present-day town of Žagarė developed from two independent towns that existed until the end of the nineteenth century—Old Žagarė and New Žagarė. The estate of Old Žagarė is mentioned in 1496. In the first half of the sixteenth century, New Žagarė grew up on the right bank of the Švėtė; by 1547 it was already called a town (4: IV). In sources from 1592–1595, Žagarė is called a city (3: III).

Žagarė is a recurring place name in Lithuania: Žagarė village in Raseiniai District, village in Vilnius District, and a part of the town of Tirkšliai. In addition, several uninhabited places are known by this name: Žagarė forest in Sudeikiai rural district, a marsh in Mockėnai rural district, Utena District, a meadow in Pabaiskas rural district, and a site in a forest in Kuršėnai rural district (Pažįžmė forestry district). These place names are apparently derivatives with the ending -ė from the common noun žagaras, ‘dry twig, brushwood, small branches’. Their original meaning may have been ‘a place full of brushwood, a place where there are many twigs’, or something similar.

Besides Žagarė, many other places, including settlements, are known whose names contain žagar-: Žagarai village in Klaipėda District, village in Molėtai District; Žagariai village in Alytus District, village in Lazdijai District, village in Prienai District, village in Varėna District; Žagariškė village in Šiauliai District; Žagariškė village in Marijampolė District; Žagariškės village in Vilnius District. Their origin may also be different; most likely, they derive not directly from the common noun žagaras, but from personal names formed from it, now surnames Žagaras, Žagarys, Žagarius, or similar.

Žeimelis (2). The Žeimelis estate is mentioned in 1500, a town in 1542, and in 1586 Žeimelis was the center of a district (3: III; 4: IV; I 121–123).

The current form of the town's name, Žeimėlis, seems to be somewhat later and secondary. According to A. Salys, local people used only Žeimys, while the form Žeimėlis was supposedly “taken from the old chancery records” (13: II 682). A. Salys continued to advocate the variant Žeimys later as well—it was used in the “Map of Lithuania,” published in Boston in 1956, whose place names were reviewed by A. Salys. Later, however, in “Collected Writings,” alongside Žeimys he also gives the form Žeimėlis in parentheses (13: II 568).

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After the war, Žeimelis became fully established—the 1948 “Dictionary of Lithuanian Spelling” recommended it (the form Žeimys is given in parentheses there), as did other standardizing publications.

It seems there is no basis for considering the form Žeimelis entirely new—the Žeimelis district existed before the war; this form appears in the official 1925 list of Lithuanian populated places (33: 59–60). It is difficult to say when it was first used, but it was certainly known from the 16th century: Жеймель in 1567 (87: 443), Zemel in Mercator’s 1580 atlas (88: 51), Жеймел in 1585 (57: 268). Compare also “zyda žeimelskiego” in 1698 (64: 161), Žeimėlis in 1904 (32: XI 9). The short variant of the name was first recorded in 1500: Žeimiu (89: I 298). Thus the short and long forms have competed for several centuries, so there would be no reason to change the now-established form Žeimelis to Žeimys or the like. All the more so since both have parallels in Lithuanian place-names: Žeimėliai village, Jonava district; village, Kėdainiai district; village, Molėtai district; Žeimaliai village, Kelmė district; Žeimis village, Šakiai district; Žeimiai village, Ignalina district; townlet, Jonava district; village, Joniškis district; village, Kupiškis district; village, Molėtai district; village, Rokiškis district; village, Ukmergė district; village, Varėna district; Žeimiai village, Kretinga district; village, Radviliškis district; village, Šiauliai district.

Why the earlier form Žeimys apparently nevertheless changed into Žeimelis is difficult to answer. For example, Latvian common nouns may have exerted an influence (Žeimelis is in the borderland with Latvia): ziemel “north,” ziemelis “north wind, northerly, wintery.” In addition, the suffix -ek- is generally characteristic of place-names in Žiemgala—Duobele, Bērstele, and so on (88: 51).

The origin of the townlet’s name Žeimys (Žeimelis) is unclear. J. Šiavas has proposed the possibility that it derives from a personal name (ibid.). It seems that most of the place-names mentioned, especially the plural ones (Žeimiai, Žeimiai, Žeimėliai), may have developed from the plural forms of personal names, now surnames, Žeimis, Žeimys, Žeimelis (34: II 1319–1320). Some doubt may remain only in the case of the two singular place-names—Žeimys and Žeimis village, Šakiai district. If Žeimys and Žeimis are also assumed to be of personal-name origin, one would have to agree that they derive from the singular forms of the personal names Žeimys, Žeimis. Lithuania has other settlement names formed in this way—Sudargas, Musteika, Kavárskas, Skuōdas, and others. However, it is possible that the place-names Žeimys and Žeimis may have arisen directly from the corresponding common nouns as well. They would be place-names formed in a similar way to Žeimis—a valley in Ramygala district, a bog in Panevėžys district; Žeimė—a shoal in Lake Plateliai, a meadow in Luokė district, a deep pool in Nemunėlis Radviliškis district, and so on.

In any case—whether the place-name Žeimys (Žeimelis) arose from a personal name or a common noun—its stem žeim- is apparently related to the common noun ž.emà. Its original meaning was associated with notions of coldness, coolness, or the like (49: 399). Thus the surnames Žeimis, Žeimys apparently originally meant not “northerner,” as K. Būga thought (2: II 676), but “one who has become chilled,” or the like; compare the surname Šalčius, from Lithuanian šiltas (41: II 880). Place-names Žeimys, Žeimis may have had a similar original meaning. For instance, the name of the deep pool Žeimė may originally have meant “a cold place.” Žeimys, Žeimis. would have a similar meaning.

Žemaičių Kalvarija (2). This is a very old settlement, first mentioned in

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1253. At that time it had another name, perhaps Garde or Gardai—the 1253 document records Garde (2: I 440; III 232). In the early 15th century, Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania granted Gardus, together with the Alsėdžiai district, to the Bishop of Samogitia. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Gardus was also the bishop’s estate. After a church was built in Gardus, it was handed over to the Dominicans in 1637, who ten years later—that is, in 1642—founded a monastery here (which remained active until 1889) and built (in 1639) 19 chapels symbolizing the Stations of the Cross, that is, calvaries (1: II 90–91). The word calvary derives from the name Kalvaria, the name of a hill in Jerusalem. Here were Catholic holy sites, Stations of the Cross with religious buildings and chapels. Later, such calvaries sprang up throughout Europe, including Lithuania. From then on, alongside the name Gardus, other names began to appear: at first Gardus came to be called New Jerusalem, and later Žemaičių Kalvarija. Sometimes Žemaičių Kalvarija was written simply as Kalvarija even in official place-name lists; for example, in the list of Lithuanian populated-place names published by the Germans in 1917–1918 (91).

There is no doubt that when the Dominicans began calling Gardus New Jerusalem and Žemaičių Kalvarija in the mid-17th century, the name Gardų remained alive in the memory of local people for a long time. This is also evident from 17th-century and later documents that mention the townlet’s name. For example, in 1655 the place is called Kalvarija, while in 1662 it is still called Gardais (1: II 91).

In his work “Žemaičių vyskupystė” (published in 1848), M. Valančius entitles the chapter about the Dominicans’ establishment in Žemaičių Kalvarija “Dominikonis Kalwarijo,” but in the text he already uses Gardus. “When the Jesuits and Bernardines had already settled in Samogitia, there were still no Dominicans: Bishop Jurgis Tyszkiewicz, wishing that there should be no shortage of those servants of God either, invited them to Gardus in 1637. Gardai was a manor belonging to the bishops...” (89: II 111). Thus, in the mid-19th century the name Gardai was still alive. V. Vitkauskas states: “there is evidence that even today the older residents remember this name” (90: 56).

But the name Žemaičių Kalvarija nevertheless displaced the earlier names, as the townlet became increasingly renowned as a religious center. Around 1650, a miraculous painting was brought there from Rome, and from 1742 onward, plenary indulgence festivals began to be held there, drawing large crowds. This likely helped establish the new name, Kalvarija or Žemaičių Kalvarija. This name endured until 1964, when the townlet was renamed Varduva, apparently mainly for anti-religious reasons, taking the name of the river that flows through it. However, the name Varduva did not manage to become established: recently the townlet was restored to its former (though not earliest) name, Žemaičių Kalvarija.

This is a two-word name. The second part has already been discussed, while the first (Žemaičių) was added later so that Žemaičių Kalvarija would not be confused with the townlet of Kalvarija in Marijampolė district.

As for Gardų, it can be said that this is a recurring place-name in Lithuania: Gardai forest in Biržai district, meadow in Alanta district, meadow in Skapiškis district, meadow in Pandėlys district, and others. Compare also Gardas bog in Pasvalys district, meadow in Liubavas district, thickets in Zapyškis district, small forest in Vabalninkas district, and others. There is no doubt that these pla

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The names are derived from the common noun gardas ‘an enclosed place in a barn or field for keeping livestock; a herd, flock’.

Konkrečiai dėl miestelio vardo Gardai kilmės abejonių kyla ta prasme, kad esama rimto pamato manyti jį susidarius iš upės vardo. Šiuo metu upelis, priešais miestelį įtekantis į Varduvą, oficialiai rašomas Pąvardenis (vėliau jis buvo perkrikštytas į Cėdronas). Gal būta ankstesnės Pągardenio lyties *Gardas ar pan. Be to, kiek į šiaurę, pagal A. Salį 3 km. (55: 12), esą būta kito upelio vardu Gardė, 1523 m. vokiškai užrašyto Gardesche Beke (ten pat). Iš šio upėvardžio susidarė gyvenvietės vardas Gardė. Dabar tokios gyvenvietės nebėra, bet ji bus išnykusi palyginti neseniai — Gardės dvarą 1925 m. mini ”Lietuvos apgyventos vietos” (33: 148), o Gardės kaimą — 1959 m. ”Lietuvos administracinis-teritorinis suskirstymas” (73: 694). A. Salys mano, kad iš upelio vardo yra sudarytas ir šiuo metu esančio (Mažeikių r. Sedos ap.) kaimo vardas Pągardė. Be to, dar kiek šiauriau, buvusiame Grūstės valsčiuje (dabar Grūstė — kaimas), J. Sprogis mini upę Города, tekančią per Gardų dvarą (ум. Горды) ir per Sedą (35: 82). Vadinasi, upelio vardas *Gardas, *Gardė ar pan. šiose vietose visiškai įmanomas, todėl Gardų vandenvardinė kilmė atrodo gana įtikima.

Žemalė (2). The locality is mentioned in written sources from 1554. It received town privileges in 1713 (1: XI 110; 4: IV).

The place name Žemalė is recurrent: the river Žemalė, a right-bank tributary of the Raudena and a tributary of the Upyna (the village name Žemalėnai was formed from this river’s name with the suffix -ėnai); a meadow called Žemalė in Luokė district, a meadow in Tryškiai district, a meadow in Endriejavas district, and the Žemalės pasture in Skuodas district. A stream called Žemalupis (a left-bank tributary of the Šerkšnė) now flows past the town of Žemalė. B. Kviklys believes the settlement was named after this stream (6: IV 374). This may indeed have been so, since the village of Žemalė was established ‘on cleared land’, that is, ‘after the forest was cleared by the Žemalė stream (Žemalupis), east of the manor homestead’ (1: XI 110). Thus, the stream’s earlier original form must have been *Žemalė; later, when the settlement came to be called by this name, the stream’s name changed to Žemalupis. Many such or similar cases are known.

In K. Būga’s view, Žemalė is a Curonian place name, related to Latvian *Zemale (written in German as Semallen) and to other place names containing the root Lithuanian žem-, Latvian zem- (2: III 244). It would have been formed, apparently from the common noun žemė ‘earth’, with the suffix -alė characteristic of Samogitians. The suffix -ale was also characteristic of the Latvian part of Courland: Nūogale, Valgale, Vērgale (ibid.).

Židikai (2). The Židikai manor is mentioned in the first half of the 16th century, and the town in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. During the Valakas Reform, the village of Židikai was established and grew rapidly (it had 19 families in 1595–1596 and already 46 in 1614). The village became a town in the late 17th century. With its establishment, the original Židikai declined (4: IV).

The name’s origin raises various doubts. This is a fairly isolated, rare place name. Besides it, a meadow called Židikė (Vegeria district) is also known. The official list of place names in Tsarist Russia from 1892 mentions a Židovcu homestead in Utena district (92: 344). That is about all. It is difficult to draw firmer conclusions from this. Nevertheless, the most plausible explanation is that these place names are derived from personal names—

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them. However, the personal name (present-day surname) *Židikas or the like is not recorded, although surnames of different formation with žid- do exist: Židūnas, Židūlis, Židžiūnas. Thus, alongside them, the surname *Židikas would be entirely possible.

There are no substantial grounds for other assumptions. It is true that the 1925 ‘Inhabited Places of Lithuania’ gives the town’s (and manor’s) name as Žydikiai (33: 154), but this form is probably inauthentic—the spoken language knows only Židikai. Moreover, Vaižgantas also gives the form Židikai from spoken usage (32: X 53). Spellings in other languages add nothing new; compare Жудукы in the 16th century (35: 115), Жудукское местечко in 1789, Žydyki in 1820, Жидухи in 1843, Židikai in 1854, Žydiki in 1855, Жидежки in 1881, 1892, 1915, and so on (21).

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8. Литовская Метрика. Ч. I: Книга записей. СПб., 1910. Т. 1.

9. Б а л ь ч и к о н и с И. Названия литовских населенных пунктов, образованные от названий рек и озер // Lingua Posnaniensis. Poznań, 1958. T. 7. P. 240—252.

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UNSERE STÄDTENAMEN

Summary

At present, there are about 300 cities, urban settlements, and towns in Lithuania. The settlements have had different histories. Their ages vary: some are hundreds of years old, while others date back only a few decades. Some were important in the past, others are important today. Some names are old and especially interesting; they are often difficult to etymologize. Others are simple, unambiguous, and etymologically transparent. About 60 city names are analyzed here. It goes without saying that searching for selection criteria would be pointless. On the one hand, only a few names are analyzed here; on the other, this article is only part of a larger work, so the criteria will be discussed another time. It can only be emphasized that the analysis includes not only names with clear etymologies, but also those whose etymology and formation are complex.

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