Samogitia
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Samogitia Žemaitija Žemaitėjė |
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| Ethnographic region | |||
Samogitian landscape near Tverai.
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| Motto: Patria una | |||
 Location of Samogitia in Europe. |
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| Coordinates: 56°00′0″N 22°15′0″E / 56.00000°N 22.25000°ECoordinates: 56°00′0″N 22°15′0″E / 56.00000°N 22.25000°E | |||
| Country | Lithuania | ||
| Capital | Telšiai | ||
| Largest city | Šiauliai | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 21.000 km2 (8.108 sq mi) | ||
| Population | |||
| • Ethnicity | Samogitians, Lithuanians | ||
| • Languages | Lithuanian language Samogitian dialect | ||
| Demonym(s) |
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| Website | Unofficial website | ||
Samogitia or Žemaitija (Samogitian: Žemaitėjė; Lithuanian: Žemaitija; literally "lowlands") is one of the five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. Žemaitija is located in northwestern Lithuania. Its largest city is Šiauliai. Žemaitija has a long and distinct cultural history, reflected in the existence of the Samogitian dialect.
Ruthenian sources mentioned the region as жемотьская земля, samotska sem(b)la; this gave rise to its Polish form, Żmudź, and probably to the Middle High German Sameiten, Samaythen. In Latin texts, the name is usually written as Samogitia, Samogetia etc. The area has long been known to its residents and to other Lithuanians exclusively as Žemaitija (the name Samogitia is no longer in use within Lithuania and has not been used for at least two centuries). The region is also known in English as Lower Lithuania, Žemaitija, or, in reference to its Yiddish name, Zamet.
Žemaitija is located in northwestern Lithuania in the territories of:
Eastern parts of:
Western part of:
The largest city is Šiauliai, or Klaipėda if the latter is considered in the region. Telšiai is the capital, although Medininkai (now Varniai) was once the capital of the Duchy of Samogitia.
The largest cities are (Samogitian name, if different, is provided after slash):
The people of Žemaitija speak Samogitian, a dialect of the Lithuanian language that was previously considered one of 3 main dialects (modern linguists have determined that it is one of two dialects, the other being Aukštaitian, and that both of these dialects have 3 subdialects each). Samogitian has northern and southern subdialects (which are further subdivided). A western subdialect once existed in the Klaipėda region, but it became extinct after World War II after its inhabitants fled the region as a result of being expelled or persecuted by the Soviet authorities. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Samogitians of the Klaipėda region called themselves "Lietuvininkai", whereas at end of 19th century when the area, known in German as the Memelland, was part of Prussia (Germany), they were known as "Prūsai." After World War II, the territory of the western subdialect was resettled mainly by northern and southern Žemaičiai and by other Lithuanians. Samogitian has a broken intonation ("laužtinė priegaidė", a variant of a start-firm accent) similar to that of the Latvian language. In 2010, the Samogitian dialect was assigned with an ISO 639-3 standard language code ("sgs"), as some languages, that were considered by ISO 639-2 to be dialects of one language, are now in ISO 639-3 in certain contexts considered to be individual languages themselves.
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Wikipedia