There are two established hypotheses about the etymology of the Švenčionys name: one that it is the name of the nearby lake Šventas (literally: saint) with the addition of the Lithuanian suffix -onys; another is that it is derived from the personal name, Švenčionis. In other languages the name is rendered as Polish: Święciany, Belarusian: Свянця́ны/Svianciany, Russian: Свентя́ны/Sventiany, Yiddish: סווינציאַן, romanized: Svintsyán, and German: Schwintzen.
History
One of the oldest towns in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the settlement was a major center of Nalšia. Grand Duke Vytautas settled Lipka Tatars in the town and built a Catholic church in 1414. The place grew from the 14th to 16th centuries, becoming the site of a local court and monastery.
The city was part of the Second Polish Republic for most of the interwar period. It was a powiat centre in Wilno Voivodeship as Święciany under Polish times between 1920 and 1939. It had a significant Jewish population (according to the 1897 Russian census – 52%),[5] but during World War II, under German occupation, the Švenčionys Ghetto was established. It operated from July 1941 to April 1943. At its peak, the ghetto housed some 1,500 prisoners. The Jewish inhabitants were deported and murdered.[6]
^ abJonas Zinkus; et al., eds. (1985–1988). "Švenčionys". Tarybų Lietuvos enciklopedija. Vol. 4. Vilnius, Lithuania: Vyriausioji enciklopedijų redakcija. p. 233. LCCN86232954.
^Meyer, Hermann Julius (1908). Meyers grosses Konvesations-Lexikon (in German). Vol. 19 (6th ed.). Leipzig and Vienna: Bibliographisches Institut. p. 227.