/mawrd"vin/ , n.
1. a member of a Uralic people living in scattered communities in the middle Volga basin, esp. between Nizhni Novgorod and Saratov.
2. the Finnic language of the Mordvin, with two major dialects, sometimes considered distinct languages.
Also, Mordvinian /mawrd vin"ee euhn/ .
[ mordvín, deriv. of the collective n. mordvá, of uncert. orig. ]