Ex linguis gentes : The Etymological Method and the Roman Theory of Lithuania's Origins

ABSTRACT: This article grew out of a book project on how the etymological method was used by medieval and early modern historians, in the Latin learned tradition and in vernacular historiographies shaped by it, not only to uncover or prove historical truths but also as a powerful storytelling device. Here, I focus on the historiographic theory of Lithuania's Roman origins, and of the Baltic peoples more broadly, tracing its development from the intellectual circles of the Teutonic Order and of medieval Poland to its narrative enactment in the Chronicle of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Samogitia , composed in Ruthenian Cyrillic in the early sixteenth century. I explore how the etymological method not only lends weight to this theory but also brings the whole narrative to life, helping to drive its plot. In response to this issue's intellectual focus, I argue that, in the case of the Lithuanian chronicle, this methodological lens also offers insight into how its early sixteenth-century authors imagined the political nation of the Grand Duchy.