Lietuva and Sakartvelas: Georgia and Lithuania to call one another by their authentic names

According to a decision made by the State Language Department of Georgia on 11 May, the Baltic state of Lithuania in Georgian will be called Lietuva.

Lietuva is the authentic name of the country – in other words, how Lithuanians refer to their country.

The decision is a friendly gesture: on 3 May, the State Committee for the Lithuanian Language changed Georgia’s name to Sakartvelas in Lithuanian.

“The decisions of Lithuania and Georgia are symbolic, because this year Lithuania also marked its 100th centennial of the reinstatement of statehood, and Georgia is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the First Democratic Republic,” the official site of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia says.

This information is especially relevant these days as the president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaitė, is visiting Georgia to participate in the festive events of 26 May, Georgian Independence Day.

• Apart from Russia, many places such as Japan or other eastern states where Russia is highly influential use the word ‘Gruzia’ to refer to Georgia. In Georgia itself, this name is associated with 200 years of imperial occupation.
• Historians believe that the name ‘Gruzia’ comes from the Syrian name of the Kartli state ‘Gurzani’, which later became the word ‘Gruzia’.