Balbieriškis is a small town in

Kaunas County Kaunas County () is one of ten counties of Lithuania. It is in the centre of the country, and its Capital (political), capital is Kaunas. On 1 July 2010, the county administration was abolished. Symbols The county's coat of arms can be blazoned ...

in central

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It is situated on the left bank of the

Neman River Neman, Nemunas or Niemen is a river in Europe that rises in central Belarus and flows through Lithuania then forms Lithuania–Russia border, the northern border of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia's western exclave, which specifically follows its s ...

. As of 2011, it had a population of 966. The town was established by German lumberman Hanus, who received a plot of land in the wilderness of

Suvalkija Suvalkija or Sudovia ( or ''Sūduva'') is the smallest of the five cultural regions of Lithuania. Its unofficial capital is Marijampolė. People from Suvalkija (Suvalkijans) are called (plural) or (singular) in Lithuanian. It is located sout ...

from Grand Duke

Sigismund I the Old Sigismund I the Old (, ; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV of P ...

. Hanus cleared the forest and built an estate. The settlement grew around the estate and was awarded city rights in 1530. However, the privileges were revoked in 1776.

Etymology

The name of the town is derived from the common Lithuanian suffix ''-iškis'', which comes from the river Barbiera (the left tributary of the

Nemunas Neman, Nemunas or Niemen is a river in Europe that rises in central Belarus and flows through Lithuania then forms the northern border of Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia's western exclave, which specifically follows its southern channel. It drains ...

). Therefore, the original form of the town's name was ''Barbieriškis'', which was used both in the spoken language and in official documents. This form changed to the current form ''Balbieriškis'', which can be attributed to the fact that the current form is more easily pronounced. The linguist Algirdas Sabaliauskas suggested that Balbieriškis was derived from the personal name ''Balbierius'', while the latter was derived from the same generic word meaning a

barber surgeon The barber surgeon was one of the most common European medical practitioners of the Middle Ages, generally charged with caring for soldiers during and after battle. In this era, surgery was seldom conducted by physicians. Instead, barbers, who ...

References

Towns in Lithuania Towns in Kaunas County Historic Jewish communities in Lithuania {{KaunasCounty-geo-stub

Etymology

See also

References