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How did the Lithuanian words for hand and fifth differ from their Latvian equivalents?
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Baltic languages
The Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
In the context of Baltic languages, Lithuanian has more faithfully preserved archaic sound combinations compared to Latvian, which underwent specific phonetic shifts.
The differences between the two languages for these words are as follows:
- Hand: The Lithuanian word is rankà, while the Latvian equivalent is rùoka.
- Fifth: The Lithuanian word is peñktas, while the Latvian equivalent is piekt(ai)s.
These variations reflect a broader pattern where old sound combinations like an and en in Lithuanian shifted to uo and ie in Latvian.1