title: The name of the Slavs: etymology and meaning
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Mesiarkin, Adam
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2017-08-21T09:00:11Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2017-08-21T09:00:11Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2017-06
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: 10.21638/11701/spbu19.2017.101
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/7087
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: The name is the main constitutive element and the most important identification sign of
  a barbaric community. The fixation of the name Σκλαβηνοί in the 6th century by Procopius of Caesarea
  and Jordanes as a designation of one of the groups of the trans-Danubian Barbaricum is the chronological
  boundary that separates the Slavs of prehistoric times from the historic Slavs. For a long time it was believed
  in historiography that the Slavs as a «people» or «cultural community» existed long before the 6th century,
  thus hiding in sources under other names. Of these names, the most important was the name Venethi / Venedi.
  However, the Slavs became Venethi, as well as the Venethi became Slavs, only thanks to Jordanes. The author
  of the article tends to the opinion that the name Σκλαβηνοί was originally a designation of only one barbaric
  group, and then, due to various intellectual and ideological factors, it was transferred to other communities
  until it acquired the meaning in which it is understood today. Linguists, as well as historians, based on linguistic
  facts, a priori interpreted the self-name of the Slavs as based on the common language — on the word *slovo. It
  followed from this that this ethnic community arose on the basis of the language community. The thesis about
  the Slavs as «clearly speaking», that is, about the existence of an ethnic group, whose members determined
  themeselves through a common language already in the 6th century or even earlier, still occupies a strong
  position in Slavic studies. However, according to the author of the article, the picture according to which
  the formation of the group name «Slavs» was a result of the members of this group rational awareness that
  they use the unique «Slavic language» is not convincing. The connection between the name of the Slavonic
  community and the (Slavonic language) basis *slovo as well as the perception of the Slavs as the «people of
  the word» emerged much later: the linguistic interpretation of the ethnonym Slavs is the core of the intellectual
  and religious concept that took shape in the second half of the 9th century, being connected with the mission
  of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Moravia and Pannonia. For this reason, the author of the article prefers the
  etymology of the name «Slavs» proposed by the Polish linguist Zbigniew Babik because, in the author’s
  opinion, it is Babik’s etymology, and not the traditional linguistic view that reflects the reality of the Barbaric
  world of the early Middle Ages in more adequate way
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: en
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana;Issue 1(21)
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: ethnonym of Slavs
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Slavic identity
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Slavic ethnogenesis
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Sclavi
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: slovene
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: The name of the Slavs: etymology and meaning
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 01-Mesiarkin.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/7087/1/01-Mesiarkin.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 582,74 kB