Latvian (Livonian) map during the German era

[Lemminkäinen]

I had an assumption that name "valks" for small rivers in Courland came from Courland Livonian language because it was not found at the Lithuanian border and in Semigallia.
I calculated frequencies of this name among all river names and it matches the map from 14th/16th century:

I have a book mentioning that Finnic people lived in Courland too. And the name of the king of Courland mentioned by the German bishop during the crusades could be a link between Courlanders and Livs. It was Lembitu or something close and is a common derivative from Finland and Estonia (Lemminkäinen - Lembitu etc. Meaning loved one). He was apparently a good king. Actually kings wewre not monarchs, but were wartime leaders.

[Lemminkäinen]

I had an assumption that name "valks" for small rivers in Courland came from Courland Livonian language because it was not found at the Lithuanian border and in Semigallia.
I calculated frequencies of this name among all river names and it matches the map from 14th/16th century:

I have a book mentioning that Finnic people lived in Courland too. And the name of the king of Courland mentioned by the German bishop during the crusades could be a link between Courlanders and Livs. It was Lembitu or something close and is a common derivative from Finland and Estonia (Lemminkäinen - Lembitu etc. Meaning loved one). He was apparently a good king. Actually kings wewre not monarchs, but were wartime leaders.

[Sandis]

It was Lembitu or something close and is a common derivative from Finland and Estonia (Lemminkäinen - Lembitu etc. Meaning loved one).

Some of my ancestors came from a place/farm Lembi and lived there at least from early 1700s till the end of 19th century. As this area in early times was inhabited by Estonians, then there is a big possibility that this name also was Finnic.

[Sandis]

About place name Lembi already Latvian linguists said that it could be of Finnic origin. About my ancestors there was a saying "Lembi - well written", but i don't know what it means. It could be about writing or knitting.

[Arūnas]

my lands...
I, Peter von Biron moved to Żagań (Sagan)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_von_Biron

in polish: https://zagan.naszemiasto.pl/za-ile-...ar/c15-8199493

[Lemminkäinen]

About place name Lembi already Latvian linguists said that it could be of Finnic origin. About my ancestors there was a saying "Lembi - well written", but i don't know what it means. It could be about writing or knitting.

Barely means "well written". Old texts can be almost unreadabe. So the writer underlined that in this case the name was well written.

[Lemminkäinen]

my lands...
I, Peter von Biron moved to Żagań (Sagan)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_von_Biron

in polish: https://zagan.naszemiasto.pl/za-ile-...ar/c15-8199493

One of my female ancestors came from Livonia. Unfortunately she is in Geni two times. I can identify her by her place of death in Vaasa Finland. Finnish church register mention her origin in Livonia, but not the time of birth. Another Geni transaction gives the place of death in Vaasa, but the date of birth conficts with her children ages in Finland. There are likely mother and daughter, both Gertrud.

https://www.geni.com/profile/6000000...00008338944086

[Sandis]

Vanema and Ventava was Curonian/Livonian lands in 13th century, but question is when Livonians arrived in Bandava.
Map from 13th century:



This is a map of ancient castle mounds in Courland:



And this is the latest version of Latvian dialects map by linguists (we had some minor changes before some years).
Full source here with isoglosses: https://lza.lv/images/Faili/Stafecka...24.09.2020.pdf

[Sandis]

I made a more detailed map for a hydronym sample. Hydronyms change slower than language, but for a small and more local rivers the process should be faster, so not all of them are so old:

[Lemminkäinen]

Curonian king was Lamenkinus, which likely is not a parallel of Lemminkäinen.