litowcy

Litowcy is a historical ethnonym used in Polish to refer to inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania or, more broadly, Lithuanians as they were perceived within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795). The term appears in medieval and early modern Polish sources, including chronicles, administrative texts, and maps, reflecting the era’s practice of designating populations by territorial or political affiliation.

Within the Commonwealth, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania covered a multiethnic region that included Lithuanians, Ruthenians (East Slavic peoples), and other groups. Thus, Litowcy did not correspond to a single language or ethnicity. It denoted people connected to Lithuanian lands or institutions, including the Lithuanian nobility (szlachta) and towns governed within Lithuanian jurisdictions. While Lithuanian was spoken in many rural areas, Polish and Church Slavonic were widely used in administration and culture, and the linguistic landscape was diverse.

The term gradually fell out of use after the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, as modern national identities and language categories evolved. In contemporary Polish, Litowcy is largely historical, with Litwini serving as the standard term for Lithuanians. Scholarly discussions of the Lithuanian component of the Commonwealth may still encounter Litowcy to describe historical contexts and administrative units of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Overall, Litowcy reflects how early modern Polish sources categorized people by territorial and political affiliation, rather than by modern national or ethnic identities.