Lithuania Tribe

After 1455 the tribe of the Cours is no longer mentioned, and scientists suggest that in zhemaytskih stopped using the language of land in the 15 th century. On the territory of present Latvia – homeland Cours – language preserved a little longer and was later replaced by Latvian language. Zemgale language used by representatives of the Baltic tribe Semigallians. The first written record of speech, from which the name of the tribe and tongue – Zemgale – dates back to 890 a year in the Danish chronicle written in Latin. Transferred to the root of words from different languages such as land, lowland, lowland, as well as northern, winter, and winter. Scientists prefer the latter interpretation of the word, and thus Zemgala located on relation to other tribes in the Baltic region in the north, that is, the Lithuanian lands. Semigallia subjected to frequent attacks of the Livonian Order, resulting in a large portion of the tribe was exterminated, and the rest of his representatives have been relocated to other areas. And, of course, all these events have caused significant damage Zemgale language.

Despite the fact that the records dated 1413-1414 years, the language is referred to as Semigallians live, to assume that he disappeared in the II half of the 15 th century. In some respects (notably in phonetics) Zemgale language similar to the Curonian. Many cases, conservation Zemgale pronunciation can be observed in the Latvian and Lithuanian today. Semigallia occupied some territory in the north of Latvia, and from the south – Lithuania.