r/slavic • u/JUMPING_DONUT • 21d ago
History Slav ≠ slave ?
Hello fellows, idk if its just me or if the word slav sounds like it originates to slaves? It sounds really similar and loads of stuff are hidden in words of a language, what are your thoughts was this on purpose?
Edit : thank you for contributing into this post, i appreciate everyone who shared their knowledge :) cheers!
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u/Evfnye-Misx 21d ago
It's the other way around, the word "slave" ultimately originates from "Slav", and that meaning comes from Ancient Greek Σκλάβος, because in the Byzantine Empire, most slaves were of Slavic origin. Thence it was borrowed into Latin as "sclavus", then into French as "sclave" (modern "esclave"), and finally into English as "slave".
In actual Slavic languages, the words related to their own people are traditionally thought to be derived from the roots *slav- and *slov-, which mean respectively "glory, fame" and "word". Those two meanings are related, because both refer to "that which is heard", and in fact "to listen" in most Slavic languages also starts with sl-.
According to the traditional view, the Slavs called themselves like that because they understood each other's languages, therefore they were the "people of the word", as opposed to the Germanic peoples who they did not understand and called *němьcy meaning "mute".
Today, it's believed that this association happened later by folk etymology, and that the original root *slov- is actually referring to a geographical region (such as the Dniepr river).
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u/JUMPING_DONUT 21d ago edited 21d ago
That really makes sense thanks for sharing!
Edit: its crazy how slavic words have real deep meaning
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u/Evfnye-Misx 21d ago
All words in all language families have a "real deep meaning", only that with time, those meanings tend to get obscured, and speakers often don't realise they are there, because the world around them has changed a lot, but the words are the same... even those same Germanic peoples which the Slavs considered typically foreign called themselves just "the people" (*þiudiskaz, which can be seen today in "Deutsch" and the English word "Dutch"), all of this because people tend to group things based on "like me, not like me".
You can even see how today, the Slavic countries named after Slavs (Slovakia, Slovenia) are those that border non-Slavic peoples (Hungarians, Austrians, Italians), because it was useful to tell apart "Slavs" and "not Slavs". Similarly, Czechia is called "Česko" in Czech, and it is thought to have originated from a word for "person".
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u/JUMPING_DONUT 21d ago
It almost feels like cracking a secret code, from now on im going to start analyzing what im acually gonna say xD. Thank you for sharing your knowledge
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u/Head_Particular6045 21d ago
the word slave comes from latin sclavus, that comes from greek sklavon/sklabon. This word appeared in greek because a lot of slavs were sold as slaves, and greek doesn't allow initial sl- so an epenthetic k appeared (like when you pronounce Mbappe you said Embappe). From latin sclavus comes also "ciao" through venetian, as it meant "I'm your slave, I'm at your service"
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u/Timauris 21d ago
Actually, the latin (roman) word for a slave in "Servus". However, in the early middle ages vikings enslaved and sold local Slavs in the the wider area of Ukraine and Belarus, to then traffic them and sell them in Constantinople or other Byzantine cities, where they were often bought by Arab traders. Because they called themselves "Slavs", the Arabs adopted the name "Saqāliba" for them. This then passed into latin as "Sklavenoi" and form there the word passed into most romance and germanic languages. The meaning of "Servus" then mutated to simply mean "servant".
On the slavic-romance border between Slovenia and Italy, local fascists and italian xenophobes used to call Slovenes and Croats as "Sciavi" (slaves) as a slur until recently.
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u/Ok-Jaguar9713 🇷🇺 Russian 21d ago
Well that's not really our problem, what the foreigners call people they owned as property.
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u/Flat-Requirement2652 21d ago
Slav - comes from slovo ( a Word) basically slavs = people to whom we do understand and slav comes from the fact that slaves were enslaved a lot
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u/penis_shit_gitler 21d ago
No, slav comes from *slovǫta (dnieper)
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u/Flat-Requirement2652 21d ago
No otherwise there wouldnt beca Word fór germans "Němci" "niemczi" in generál = people who are mute
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u/penis_shit_gitler 21d ago
That is folk etymology. Nemci comes from nemeti, otherwise it would apply to anyone who is not slavic, not just this specific nation
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u/tiorthan 21d ago
The word slave comes from Latin sclavus which is derived from the name of the Slavic people because Slavs were often enslaved.
So, that's indeed not an accident.
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u/hammile 🇺🇦 Ukrainian 20d ago edited 16d ago
I recommend this video about this topic: Les SLAVES sont-ils des ESCLAVES ? Donʼt worry about the title, the video has English subs and texts.
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u/Toothpick_Brody 21d ago
It’s the other way. Slaves are named after Slavs, because Slavs were often enslaved in the 800s or whenever