Old Lithuanian language
Quick Summary
The Old Lithuanian language is an archaic form of the Lithuanian language, which is part of the Baltic language family. Lithuanian is considered the most ancient living Indo-European language. Old Lithuanian writings first appeared in the 16th century, with Martynas Mažvydas publishing the first Lithuanian book, a catechism, in 1547.12
Key characteristics of Old Lithuanian include longer grammatical endings and an additional two cases compared to modern Lithuanian. It also shows stronger Slavic influences in its vocabulary and syntax, and differs in accentuation. Unlike modern Lithuanian, Old Lithuanian retained forms for the dual number in nouns and verbs, and a locative plural ending -su. Old Prussian, a related but extinct West Baltic language, shares some archaic features with Lithuanian but also has distinct differences.134
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