Latvia
/ˈlæt.vi.ə/noun
A country in Northern Europe on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.
Did you know?The name Latvia is built from the ancient ethnonym of the Latgalians, one of the historical Baltic tribes, and was later generalized into the modern national name.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient / Early Medieval
Baltic
Latgala / Latgali
“The name of a Baltic tribal group and their territory in what is now eastern Latvia”
12th–13th Century
Latin
Letthia / Lettia
“Medieval Latin forms used for the lands and peoples of the eastern Baltic”
13th–16th Century
German
Lettland
“‘Land of the Latvians/Lets,’ a German exonym for the region”
19th Century
English
Latvia
“A learned national name formed in the modern era from the ethnic and geographic designation”
1918
English
Latvia
“The official name adopted by the independent Latvian state”
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