Lithuania Minor - Terminology

Terminology

The term "Lithuania Minor" (Kleinlitauen), applied to the northeastern part of the former province of East Prussia (about 31 500 km²), was first mentioned as Kleinlittaw in the Prussian Chronicle of Simon Grunau at the beginning of the 16th century (between 1517 and 1526) and was later repeated by another Prussian chronicler Lucas David. The term Lithuania Minor was applied during the 19th century and used more widely during the 20th century, mostly among historians and ethnographers.

The northeastern limit of the area of Prussia inhabited by Lithuanians was the state border between Lithuania and Prussia, but the southwestern limit was not clear and Lithuania Minor has been understood differently, therefore it could be:

• either the area limited in the south by M. Toeppen-A. Bezzenberger's line (about 11 400 km²) what is roughly the area of the former administrative Lithuanian Province (about 10 thousand km².), where the population was almost entirely Lithuanian until 1709-11,
• or the area of the former region with actual Lithuanian majority or of considerable percentage (about 17-18 thousand km².).

The administrative terms "Lithuanian province" (Provinz Litthauen), "Lithuanian districts" (Littauischen Ämtern), "Lithuanian county" (Littauische Kreis) or simply "Prussian Lithuania" (Preuszisch Litauen), "Lithuania" (Litauen) were used to refer to the Lithuanian inhabited administrative units (Nadruvia and Scalovia) in the legal documentation of Prussian state since 1618. The Lithuanian Province was named Klein Litau, Klein Litauen, Preussisch Litthauen, Little Lithuania, Litvania in the maps of Prussia since 1738. The official use of the concepts Prussian Lithuania etc. decreased considerably from the administrative reform of 1815-18.