Lithuanian
2
6.9
- noun
- /ˌlɪθuˈeɪniən/
- And suddenly you have poets writing in Lithuanian and it's no longer a disgrace to be seen as a Lithuanian.
Examples
-
The gentry did not speak Lithuanian.
Academic text (2004) -
She grabs his cheeks and rattles off in Lithuanian.
Fiction book (1991) -
In my bad Lithuanian, I said to him, "I only heard your last note!"
Fiction book (1999) -
Am I speaking Lithuanian?
-
And while freedom is a goal to which all should aspire, the fate of any individual Lithuanian is subordinate to the survival of the nation.
Academic text (1990) -
Lithuanian-American newspapers and community leaders urged their constituents to renounce Polish and Russian and to speak Lithuanian as a first language and English as a second.
Academic text (1998) -
Dignitaries addressed the crowd in English and Lithuanian, evoking thunderous applause by announcing that "Lithuanians stand body and soul for America, for the liberty of all nations, and for the liberty of Lithuania."
Academic text (1998) -
In my bad Lithuanian, I said to him, "I only heard your last note!"
-
"You realize," he said in Lithuanian, "that this will make the situation very difficult for you and your family."
-
Talk to me in Lithuanian.
Surface Forms
Morphology
Lithuanian = Lithuania (transparent) = Lithuan + ian
Formed regularly by adding the demonym/adjectival suffix '-ian' to the country name 'Lithuania', a transparent derivation for learners.
Etymology
Lithuanian comes from the country's own name Lietuva. One popular idea is that Lietuva comes from an old root liet- meaning 'to pour' or from a small river name, so think of Lithuanian as 'the language of Lietuva'.