Slavic ethnonym

The Slavic ethnonym (and autonym), ''Slavs'', is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as ''*Slověninъ'', plural ''Slověně''. The earliest written references to the Slav ethnonym are in other languages.

Early mentions

Possibly the oldest mention of Slavs in almost historical form ''*Slověne'' is attested in Ptolemy's ''Geography'' (2nd century) as ''Σταυανοί'' (Stavanoi) and ''Σουοβηνοί'' (Souobenoi/Sovobenoi, Suobeni, Suoweni), both listed as Scythian tribes living near Alanians north of Scythia (first roughly between Volga and Ural Mountains, second between the Baltic Sea and Black Sea). Zbigniew Gołąb accepted Pavel Jozef Šafárik's opinion that Greeks inserted "τ" or "θ" for Slavic "sl-" (reconstructing Proto-Slavic ''*Slɔu̯ǣnæ''), and "through the labialized articulation of the vowel /ɔ/ conditioned by the preceding /u̯/" in Proto-Slavic ''*Su̯ɔbǣnæ'' (''*Svoběne'').

'' Sporoi'' ( el, Σπόροι) or ''Spori'' was according to Eastern Roman/Byzantine scholar Procopius (500–560) the old name of the Antes and Sclaveni, two Early Slavic branches. Procopius stated that the Sclaveni and Antes spoke the same language, but he traced their common origin back to not the Veneti (as per Jordanes) but a people that he called ''Sporoi''. He derived the name from Greek ("I scatter grain"), because "they populated the land with scattered settlements". He described their society as democratic, and their language as barbaric.

The Roman bureaucrat Jordanes wrote about the Slavs in his work ''Getica'' (551): "although they derive from one nation, now they are known under three names, the Veneti, Antes and Sclaveni" (); that is, the West Slavs, East Slavs, and South Slavs. He stated that the Veneti were the ancestors of the Sclaveni and the Antes, the two having used to be called ''Veneti'' but are now "chiefly" (though, by implication, not exclusively) called Sclaveni and Antes. Jordanes' ''Veneti'' and Procopius' ''Sporoi'' were used for the ethnogenetic legend of the Slavs, the ancestors of the ''Slavs'' (the subsequent ethnic group name).

Thus, the Slav ethnonym at first denoted the southern group of the early Slavs. That ethnonym is attested by Procopius in Byzantine Greek as ('), ('), ('), ('), or Σκλαβῖνοι ('),Procopius, ''History of the Wars'', VII. 14. 22–30, VIII. 40. 5. while his contemporary Jordanes refers to the ''Sclaveni'' in Latin.Jordanes, ''The Origin and Deeds of the Goths,'' V. 33. In Ancient Greek there are no words with the root ''sl-'', thus the original ethnonym was transformed into ''skl-'', as that root was present (in '' sklērós'', "hard").

Church Slavonic manuscripts

In East Church Slavonic manuscripts, the ethnonym is spelt ''Slověne'' (), such as in the '' Primary Chronicle'', ''Sofia First Chronicle'', ''Novgorod First Chronicle'' and ''Novgorod Fourth Chronicle''. In the source dating to 898 included in the ''Primary Chronicle'', the term is used both for East Slavic tribes and more often for a people (in the Kievan Rus' society, alongside Varangians, Chuds and Kriviches).

Etymology

The Slavic autonym ''*Slověninъ'' is usually considered a derivation from Proto-Slavic adjective ''svobъ'' ("oneself", "one's own"; derivative ''svoboda'' > ''sloboda'' also "freedom", "free settlement"), which derives from Indo-European ''*s(w)e/obh(o)-'' "a person or thing apart, separate", root ''*swobh'' "his/hers", meaning "all the members of an exogamic moiety > actual or potential affines/blood relatives". It can be interpreted as "a tribe of the free, of their own people". Names of many Germanic tribes derive from the same root, which was not an exonym but endonym. Eventually with dissimilation of ''svobъ'' > ''slobъ'' was associated with ''slovo'' "word", originally denoting "people who speak (the same language)", i.e. people who understand each other, in contrast to the Slavic word denoting "foreign people", namely ''němci'', meaning "mumbling, murmuring people" (from Slavic ''*němъ'' "mumbling, mute"). The latter word may be the derivation of words to denote "Germans" or "Germanic peoples" in many later Slavic languages, e. g., Czech ''Němec'', Slovak '' Nemec'', Slovene ''Nemec'', Belarusian, Russian and Bulgarian '' Немец'', Serbian '' Немац'', Croatian '' Nijemac'', Polish ''Niemiec'', Ukrainian '' Німець'', etc.,Stephen Barbour and Cathie Carmichael (eds.), ''Language and Nationalism in Europe'' (2000), p. 193. but another theory states that rather these words are derived from the name of the Nemetes tribe, which is derived from the Celtic root '' nemeto-''.Xavier Delamarre (2003). ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise.'' Éditions Errance, p. 233.John T. Koch (2006). ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia.'' ABC-CLIO, p. 1351.

The word ''slovo'' ("word") and the related ''slava'' ("glory, fame, praise") and ("hearing") originate from the Proto-Indo-European root ("be spoken of, glory"), cognate with Ancient Greek ( "fame"), whence comes the name Pericles, Latin ("be called"), as well as English .

Alternative proposals for the etymology of ''*Slověninъ'' propounded by some scholars have much less support. B. Philip Lozinski argues that the word ''*slava'' once had the meaning of "worshipper", in this context "practicer of a common Slavic religion"; from that evolved into an ethnonym.B. Philip Lozinski, "The Name 'Slav'", in: ''Essays in Russian History. A Collection Dedicated to George Vernadsky'', edd. A. D. Ferguson and A. Levin. Archon Books, Hamden, Connecticut 1964, S. 19–32
online text
). S. B. Bernstein speculated that it derives from a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European ', cognate to Ancient Greek λαός (''laós'') "population, people", which itself has no commonly accepted etymology.Bernstein 1961. Meanwhile, others theorize that ''Slavyane'' (russian: Славяне) is of toponymic origin, from a place named ''Slovo'' or a river named ''Slova''; this, according to some, is implied by the suffix ''-enin''. The Old East Slavic ''Slavuta'' for the Dnieper River was argued by Henrich Bartek (1907–1986) to be derived from ''slova'' and also the origin of ''Slověne''.''Etudes slaves et est-européennes: Slavic and East-European studies'', vol. 3 (1958), p. 107.

According to the widespread view known since 18th century, the English word slave, which arrived in modern language from Middle English sclave, from Old French esclave, from Late Middle High German sklave, from Medieval Latin sclāvus, from Late Latin Sclāvus, from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος 'Sklábos'' 'Ésklabḗnos''and displaced native Old English þēow, derives from Byzantine loanword from a Slavic gen self-name - 'Sklábinoi'' 'Ésklabēnoí'' that turned into the meaning 'prisoner of war Slave', 'slave' (, , Late Latin ) in 8th/9th century, because they often became captured and enslaved (see also Saqaliba). Similarly the popular Italian-language (and international) salutation ''Ciao'' is also derived from that Slavic athnonym. However this version is disputed since 19th century.

Alternative contemporary hypothesis states that Medieval Latin via secondary form derives from Byzantine 'skūláō'', ''skyláō'' 'skūleúō'', ''skyleúō''- "to strip the enemy (killed in a battle)", "to make booty / extract spoils of war". This version is criticised as well.

See also

* Sclaveni
* Sporoi
* Nemets, Niemcy

References

Further reading

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* {{cite journal, last=Uličný, first=Ferdinant, title=ETNONYMY SKLÁVOI, SCLAVI, SLOVIENI, SLOVÁCI, SLOVANIA, year=2012, journal=Historický časopis, volume=60, issue=2, pages=301–330, issn=0018-2575, url=https://www.infona.pl/resource/bwmeta1.element.cejsh-b7746833-4242-47c8-b3c5-17566c184dac

Ethnonyms
Slavic history
Early Slavs
Slav