Baltic Languages

Baltic languages, group of Indo-European languages that includes modern Latvian and Lithuanian, spoken on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, and the extinct Old Prussian, Yotvingian, Curonian, Selonian, and Semigallian languages. The Baltic languages are more closely related to Slavic, Germanic, and Indo-Iranian (in that order) than to the other branches of the family. Speakers of modern Lithuanian and Latvian (Lettish), the languages of the Balts inhabiting the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, as well as the now extinct Old Prussian language, Yotvingian (also spelled Yatvingian, Jotvingian, Jatvingian), Curonian (Kurish), Semigallian, and Selonian (Selian) are here referred to as the B-Balts. There also existed languages and dialects of the Balts (D-Balts) who lived east of the abovementioned groups in the areas of the upper reaches of the Dnieper River.