In reality, they are all derived from the same 3GPP standard [1], the generations (3G, LTE, 4G, 5G, ...) just being labels applied to particular releases of the underlying standard. In git terms, the underlying 3GPP standard is the "master" branch and the releases are tags. Happily it is all freely available.
To answer your question, LTE referred to the intermediate stages between 3G and 4G. The labels are a bit arbitrary and interpretation of exactly what the label refers to varies with what the carrier is trying to sell.
To answer your question, LTE referred to the intermediate stages between 3G and 4G. The labels are a bit arbitrary and interpretation of exactly what the label refers to varies with what the carrier is trying to sell.
[1] https://www.3gpp.org/