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Lietuvininks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lietuvininkas (Lithuanian: Lietuvininkas, plural - Lietuvininkai, commonly translated into English as Lietuvninks) is the term applied to East Prussians of Lithuanian descent who lived in Lithuania Minor. Unlike other Lithuanians, who remained mostly Roman Catholic after the Protestant Reformation, Lietuvninkai were mostly Lutheran-Protestants (Evangelical-Lutheran).
It is argued sometimes that the term "Lietuvininkas" basically just meant Lithuanian in Lithuania Minor, and that at that time there were two versions to name Lithuanians, "Lietuvis" and "Lietuvininkas". The first one, "Lietuvis" (now translated as Lithuanian) became popular in other regions of Lithuania, while "Lietuvininkas" became popular in Lithuania Minor. Nevertheless, now the term Lietuvininkas solely means a person from Lithuania Minor, rather than a Lithuanian in general.
The agent's suffix -inink- is common in Lithuanian. For example: darbas (a work) - darbininkas (a worker), lankas (a bow) - lankininkas (an archer), bitė (a bee) - bitininkas (an apiarist). The shortened form of the suffix, -nink was used by Lietuvininkai themselves, therefore their name is often used in an original form Lietuvninkai.
There were about 200,000 Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania Minor at the time of the First World War. Almost all fled or were expelled after World War II, when Lithuania Minor was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union. The latter part became the Kaliningrad Oblast.
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