Sudovian language

Sudovian (also known as Jatvingian, Yatvingian, or Yotvingian) is an extinct western Baltic language of Northeastern Europe. Closely related to the Old Prussian language, it was formerly spoken southwest of the Nemunas river in what is now Lithuania, east of Galindia and north of Yotvingia, and by exiles in East Prussia.

History

Sudovia and neighboring Galindia were two Baltic tribes or nations mentioned by the Greek geographer Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD as Galindai and Soudinoi, (Γαλίνδαι, Σουδινοί). Although Sudovian and Yotvingian were separate dialects of the same language, Sudovian and Yotvingian merged as a common dialect in the 10th century when the two nations created a Federation together with the Denowe – Dainavians. Peter of Dusburg, in his 14th-century Chronicon Terrae Prussiae, refers to Sudovia and to its inhabitants as Sudovites.

After the district was conquered by the Teutonic Knights, the language died out and its speakers were gradually absorbed by German, Lithuanian and Slavic populations.