Latvija

Etymology

From latvis (“Latvian, Lett”) +‎ -ija. The word is relatively recent: in older (13th-century) texts, this region is called Lettia, Letthigalia, later on (17th century) Latvisku zeme and (18th century) Latvju zeme, Latviešu zeme. J. Alunāns suggested in the 1850s the word Latva, which was not adopted; but, under his influence, many country names in Latvian were derived with a suffix -ija, which made several authors spontaneously create and use the word Latvija. It was accepted into the standard language in the following decades.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [latvija]

Proper noun

Latvija f (4th declension)

1. Latvia (country in the Baltic region of Europe, with Riga as its capital)

   Latvijas karogs ― flag of Latvia

   Latvijas karte ― map of Latvia

   Dievs, svētī Latviju ― God bless Latvia

   Latvijā ir 76 pilsētas, no kurām divās (Rīgā un Daugavpilī) dzīvo vairāk par 100 000 iedzīvotāju ― in Latvia (there) are 76 cities, in two of which (Rīga and Daugavpils) (there) are more than 100 000 inhabitants

References

Etymology

From latvis +‎ -ija.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlaːtʲʋʲɪjɛ]

Proper noun

Lãtvija f

1. Latvia

Alternative forms

• Lètōnija

Proper noun

Làtvija f (Cyrillic spelling Ла̀твија)

1. Latvia

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlàːtʋija/
• Tonal orthography: látvija

Proper noun

Látvija f (genitive Látvije)

1. Latvia