Nov 26, 2007
Beginning at the age of 40, Grand Duke, or High King, Gediminas
was ruler of Lithuania from 1316 to 1341. He became the monarch of
the Lithuanians 80 years after the Battle of the Sun.
Gediminas ruled for 25 years and he inherited lands that included
what is now Lithuania as well as parts of Belarus. Gediminas was
very loyal to his subjects, giving them the freedom to worship the
traditional Lithuanian gods, Christianity or Judaism. He’s
the true founder of the modern idea of a Lithuanian
nation.
He created a large, powerful Lithuanian army; defended Lithuania with a series of strong forts and built castles in towns including Vilnius. He originally placed the capital at Trakai, near Vilnius, but later decided on Vilnius itself.
His reputation is that of a man who worshipped the old Lithuanian gods and who resisted every attempt to christianize his country, but the reality is a little different from the legend.
Wanting to create a strong nation and needing help to defend Lithuania from the German Teutonic Knights, Gediminas asked for help from Pope John XXII. He promised to become Christian himself and invited members of different Christian orders to build churches in Lithuania. However, his subjects were uneasy with his plans to convert to the new religion. He eventually reneged on his promise to convert, strengthened his relationship with his people and withdrew from the process of christianization. It’s not clear whether Gediminas actually intended to become Christian. The conversion was probably just a political move to help fight his Teutonic enemies.
According to historian Stephen Christopher Rowell, in about 1339-40 Gediminas executed two Franciscan friars from Bohemia, Ulrich and Martin, they had gone beyond what Gediminas had allowed and had publicly preached against the Lithuanian religion. Gediminas ordered them to renounce Christianity, and had them killed when they refused.
Gediminas died in 1341 from wounds he received in either a fight or a battle. His funeral included a traditional Lithuanian cremation, including the human sacrifice of his favorite servant and many German slaves burned in the fire along with his corpse.
Gediminas is a central figure in one of the most popular Lithuanian legends.
Once upon a time the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas, was hunting in the holy woods near where Vilnius would later be built. Tired after a successful day’s hunt the Grand Duke settled in for the night. He fell soundly asleep and had a dream. A huge iron wolf was standing on top of a hill and the sound of hundreds of wolves inside the hill filled the surrounding fields and woods. When he woke up, the Duke asked a Lithuanian priest to reveal the secrets of the dream. The priest said, "What is destined for the ruler and the state of Lithuania, is this: the iron wolf represents a castle and a town which will be built by the ruler on this site. The town will be the capital of the Lithuanian lands and the dwelling of rulers and the glory of their deeds shall echo throughout the world."
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Today let’s work a little bit on some unusual Lithuanian
words. Most masculine nouns end in –as, -is, -ys, and
–us. Most feminine nouns end in either –a or –ė.
But first, here are some new words some of which we touched on in
earlier episodes, primarily in episode 0018. We need to go
over them since we’ll see them later in this lesson.
vieta
a location
vieta
the location
spalva
the color
spalva
a color
šalis
the country
šalis
a country
kokybė
a quality
kokybė
the quality
mašina
car
mašina
auto
butas
a flat (as in an apartment)
butas
the flat (as in a condo)
Now, let’s go over some words that have non-standard declensions in the genitive or kilmininkas. First, the masculine nouns in vardininkas…
šuo
dog
šuo
the dog
šuo
a dog
akmuo
stone
akmuo
a stone
akmuo
the stone
asmuo
person
asmuo
a person
asmuo
the person
vanduo
water
vanduo
water
vanduo
water
dėdė uncle - note here that dėdė ends in –ė and so that would normally indicate a female noun, however, dėdė is a masculine noun.
dėdė
uncle
Dėdė
Džiakas
Uncle Jack
now, some unusual feminine nouns in vardininkas
moteris
woman
note that most nouns which end in an “s" are masculine, however, moteris is feminine.
moteris
a woman
moteris
the woman
stotis
station
stotis
a station
stotis
the station
sesuo
sister
sesuo
a sister
sesuo
the sister
duktė
daughter
duktė
a daughter
duktė
the daughter
marti
daughter-in-law
marti
daughter-in-law
marti
the daughter-in-law
Okay, now let’s “decline" these words in the genitive. You can see the spellings of these words on the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage.
dog, or šuo changes to šuns
the dog’s
water
šuns vanduo - tricky huh?
the dog’s
name
šuns vardas
a dog’s
house
šuns namas
stone, or akmuo changes to akmens
the stone’s
color
akmens spalva
the stone’s
quality
akmens kokybė
the stone’s
location
akmens vieta
person, or asmuo changes to asmens
the person’s
name
asmens vardas
the person’s
house
asmens namas
the person’s
location
asmens vieta
water, or vanduo changes to vandens
the water’s
color
vandens spalva
the water’s
quality
vandens kokybė
the water’s
location
vandens vieta
uncle, or dėdė changes to dėdės
the uncle’s
dog
dėdės šuo
the uncle’s
room
dėdės kambarys
the uncle’s
name
dėdės vardas
woman, or moteris changes to moters
the woman’s
house
moters namas
the woman’s
name
moters vardas
the woman’s
dog
moters šuo
station, or stotis changes to stoties
the station’s
toilet
stoties tualetas
the station’s
color
stoties spalva
the station’s
location
stoties vieta
sister, or sesuo changes to sesers
the sister’s
name
sesers vardas
the sister’s
car
sesers mašina
the sister’s
house
sesers namas
daughter, or duktė changes to dukters
the daughter’s
flat
dukters butas
the daughter’s
book
dukters knyga
the daughter’s
room
dukters kambarys
and finally, the daughter-in-law, or marti changes to marios
the daughter-in-law’s
name
marčios vardas
the daughter-in-law’s
dog
marčios šuo
the daughter-in-law’s
room
marčios kambarys
Okay, good job, I know that that was an awful lot of information
Again, these are some oddball or irregular declensions in kilmininkas. Most nouns aren’t this difficult. You’ll just have to commit these to memory. Again, I’d recommend you follow along on this lesson with the text from the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage. Just keep doing it over and over until you get comfortable with it.