Fraternity Manuals

Slavic peoples

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Contents

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Ethno-cultural subdivisions

Slavs are customarily divided into three major subgroups: East Slavs, West Slavs, and South Slavs, each with a somewhat different background. The East Slavs may all be traced to Slavic-speaking populations that were organized as Kievan Rus' beginning in the 9th century A.D. and eventually fell under the influence of the Mongol Empire. Almost all of the South Slavs can be traced to ethnic Slavs who mixed with the local population of the Balkans (Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians and Getae) and with later invaders from the East (Bulgars, Avars, Alans, Petchenegs, and Cumans), then fell under the hegemony of the Ottoman Empire. The West Slavs (and the Slovenes) do not share either of these backgrounds, but gradually expanded so far to the West that they fell into the cultural sphere of Western (Roman Catholic) Christendom around this timeframe.

East Slavs:

West Slavs:

South Slavs:

† Extinct (Not existing anymore)

Note: Besides ethnic groups, Slavs often identify themselves with the geographical region in which they live. Some of the major regional South Slavic groups include: Zagorci, Istrani, Dalmatinci, Slavonci (in Croatia), Bosanci, Hercegovci, Krajišnici, Semberci (in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Srbijanci, Šumadinci, Vojvođani, Sremci, Bačvani, Banaćani, Sandžaklije, Kosovci, Crnogorci, Bokelji (in Serbia and Montenegro), etc.

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The emergence of Proto-Slavic

The Proto-Slavic (or Proto-Balto-Slavic) language branched off at some uncertain time in an unknown location from common Proto-Indo-European, becoming a separate Indo-European language: Proto-Slavic, a hypothetical (reconstructed) language whence individual Slavic languages emerged.

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The Slavic homeland debates

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General argument

A common theory is that the Proto-Indo-Europeans, and also the later Proto-Slavs, originated from the steppes of Ukraine and southern Russia (see Kurgan hypothesis). However, other scholars believe that the Proto-Slavs had been in north-east Central Europe since very early times, and were the bearers of the Lusatian culture and later the Przeworsk culture (and were also part of the Chernyakhov culture). This latter theory does not contradict the Kurgan hypothesis.

There are thus two major historical theories that address the issue of the original homeland of Slavs:

  1. the autochthonic theory assumes that Slavs had lived north of the Carpathian Mountains since the Lusatian culture (before 1000 BC).
  2. the allochthonic theory assumes that the Slavs arrived there in the 5th or 6th century A.D.

Germans and different Slavic nations have employed either of these theories as tools of political propaganda, resulting in general confusion. Some scientists (such as Kazimierz Godłowski or Zdenek Vana) consider both theories absurd. Both scientists think that Slavs as such appeared and differentiated themselves from other tribes some time after 1 A.D.

Many regions have been proposed as the hypothetical Slavic homeland. Suggestions include today's Poland, the marshes of Polesie, Volhynia, areas around the upper Dniepr river, and even Central Asia.

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Diverse theories

Around 500 BC, Celtic tribes settled along the upper Oder river (Odra), and Germanic tribes settled on the lower Vistula and the lower Oder rivers. The lands of the Elbe, Oder, and Vistula regions all came to be known as Magna Germania by ca. 100 A.D. It has not been verified whether any Slavic tribes were settled in these regions at that time.

One theory suggests that two waves of Slavs existed, the Proto-Slavs (called by these theorists "Venedes" or "Wenets") and the Slavs proper; and that these two groups were eventually mixed to become the Slavs of today. However, the claim that the Venedes were a Slavic or even a proto-Slavic people is very controversial, and many scholars believe that the Venedes belonged to another Indo-European branch, rather than Slavic.

The Chernoles culture (first millenium BC) is "sometimes portrayed as either a state in the development of the Slavic languages or at least some form of late Indo-European ancestral to the evolution of the Slavic stock" (James P. Mallory, "Chernoles Culture", Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997). The Milograd culture (700-300 BC), centered roughly on present day Belarus, north of the contemporaneous Chernoles culture, has also been proposed as the homeland of the proto-Slavs. Through the Zarubinets and the late Zarubinets cultures, it can be traced to the Kiev culture (2nd-5th centuries AD), which is the ancestor of the Prague-Korchak and Pen'kovo cultures (6th-7th centuries AD), the first archaeological cultures whose Slavic origin is considered indisputable. It must be noted, however, that the Milograd culture is also attributed to the proto-Balts and the Zarubinets culture has been connected with the Bastarnae tribe of antiquity by some archaeologists and historians.

Another recent theory, relying on the multiregional origin hypothesis claims an autochthonous Slavic origin from pre-glacial times. The Slavic homeland would thus have included areas described by Tacitus as Germania. However, this theory has little support among scientists.

Still more confusion comes from the fact that some Slavic peoples have originated as a result of complete assimilation of non-Slavic peoples. Myth-weavers often seize upon this phenomenon (which happened in some cases) to create spurious pseudo-histories (see connection between Poles and Vandals).

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"Slavs as Aryans" theory

Finally, several new theories of the origin of Slavs were published, and found large numbers of followers, in the 1990s and 2000s, fueled by the rise of nationalism in Ukraine. Most of them attempt to establish a direct connection between the Slavs and Aryans. Some even claim that Slavs existed as an entity as early as the 7th to 5th millennium BC and were ancestors of the Sumerians. They say that the fabled Sumerian city of Aratta was located in Ukraine.

There is plenty of archaeological evidence for settlements in northern Ukraine and Poland as far back as 3rd millennium BC (Trypillian). People who lived there supported themselves principally by means of agriculture; some of them had mastered the use of metal by the 8th century BC. The absence of a written language leaves it open for debate whether those people were in any way related to modern Slavs. If the Kurgan hypothesis is accepted, however, the Trypillian culture is not Indo-European, and disappears entirely by the end of the second millenium BC, leaving no known cultural descendants.

Ironically, these nationalistic theories may hold some significance in the large scale. A recent Stanford study concluded that the peoples of Slavonic tongue are the most closely related populations to the proto-Indo-European stock, the group considered by 20th century race theorists to be the original Aryans. What this holds in store for future homeland debates, however, is unknown ([1]).

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Ethnonyms applied to Slavs

The peoples we now know as Slavs appeared in early histories as "Venedes" or "Wends", but as noted above, their connection to the Venedes mentioned by Tacitus, Ptolemy and Pliny remains uncertain, and the use of the term "Venedes" or "Wends" for Slavs may have come about by way of a later misidentification of the Slavs with the earlier Venedes.

Some later writers recorded the names of Slavic peoples as Sclavens, Sclovene, and Ants. The Byzantine spelling of the name transformed into Saqaliba of the medieval Arab world.

Jordanes mentions that the Venets sub-divided into three groups: the Venets, the Ants and the Sklavens. Traditionally the name "Venets" has become associated with the Western Slavs, "Sklavens" with the Southern Slavs, and the "Ants" (or "Antes") with the Eastern Slavs.

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Etymology of Slav

The origin of the word "Slav" remains controversial. Excluding the ambiguous mention by Ptolemy of tribes Stavanoi and Soubenoi, the earliest references of "Slavs" under this name are from the 6th century. The word is written variously: Greek: Sklabenoi, Sklauenoi, Sklabinoi, Roman: Sclaueni, Sclauini, Sthlabenoi, Sthlaueni, the first vowel being "a".

The documents written in Old Slavonic language the word "slověne" (with the first vowel "o") are dated not earlier than the 9th century.

There are obvious similarities to the word slovo meaning "word, talk". Thus slověne would mean "people who speak (the same language)", i.e. people who understand each other, as opposed to the Slavic word for Germans, nemtsi, meaning "speechless people" (from Slavic němi - mute, silent, dumb). Compare the Greek coinage of the term "barbarian".

Another obvious similarity links "Slavs" to the word slava, that is "glory" or "praise". The word came about from the verb "slyti", "to be known about"; it arises from the corresponding causative verb, "slaviti".

Sometimes "slav" is calculated to derive from "slov-" by the distinctly Russian phenomenon of akanie. Almost every Slavic nation which retains its initial name for "Slav" uses the word "slověne" for the meaning.

Some linguists believe, however, that these obvious connections are misleading. Names of ethnicities are usually very old and often defy attempts to find etymologies for them.

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Slavs in the historical period

Image:Slavs.jpg

Slavs emerged from obscurity when the westward movement of Germans and Celts in the 5th and 6th centuries AD (necessitated by the onslaught of peoples from Siberia and Eastern Europe: Huns, Avars, Bulgars and Magyars) started the great migration of the Slavs, who settled the lands abandoned by Germanic tribes fleeing the Huns and their allies: westward into the country between the Odra and the Elbe-Saale line; southward into Bohemia, Moravia, much of present day Austria, the Pannonian plain and the Balkans; and northward along the upper Dnieper river.

When their migratory movements ended, there appeared among the Slavs the first rudiments of state organizations, each headed by a prince with a treasury and defense force. Moreover, there were the beginnings of class differentiation, with nobles who pledged allegiance to the Frankish and Holy Roman Emperors.

In the 7th century, the Frankish nobleman Samo, who supported the Slavs fighting their Avar rulers, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe. Karantania in today's Austria and Slovenia was one Slavic state; very old also are the Principality of Nitra and the Moravian principality (see under Great Moravia). In this period, there existed central Slavic groups and states such as the Balaton Principality, but the subsequent expansion of the Magyars and Romanians, as well as the Germanisation of Austria, separated the northern and southern Slavs.

In the early history of the Slavs, and continuing into the Dark Ages, non-Slavic groups were sometimes assimilated by Slavic-speaking populations: the Bulgars became Slavicized and their Turkic tongue disappeared; in other cases, Slavs themselves were assimilated into other groups such as the Romanians, Magyars, Greeks, etc. The Croats probably merged with the Alans and the Serbs with the Illyrians.

Scarcely any unity developed among various Slavic peoples in the early historic period, although faint traces of cooperation sometimes appeared. Because of the vastness and diversity of the territory occupied by Slavic peoples, there were several centers of Slavic consolidation, a process that was never completed for many reasons. In the 19th century, Pan-Slavism developed as a movement among intellectuals, scholars, and poets, but it rarely influenced practical politics. Tsarist Russia used Pan-Slavism as an ideology justifying its territorial conquests in Central Europe, and as such the ideology became associated with Russian imperialism. The common Slavic experience of communism combined with the repeated usage of the ideology by Soviet propaganda after World War II within the Eastern bloc (Warsaw Pact) was a forced high-level political and economic hegemony of the U.S.S.R. dominated by Russians, and as such despised by the rest of the conquered nations. A notable political union of the 20th century that covered many South Slavs was Yugoslavia, but it broke apart as well.

Nazi Germany, whose proponents claimed a racial superiority for the Germanic people, particularly over Semitic and Slavic peoples, plotted an enslavement of the Slavic peoples, and the reduction of their numbers by killing the majority of the population. As a result, a large number of people considered by Nazi to have Slavic origins were slain during World War II.

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Religion and alphabet

In religion, the Slavs traditionally divided into two main groups: those who are Eastern Orthodox, and those who are Roman Catholic or Uniate. A few Slavs are Protestant or Muslim. The delineations by nationality can be very sharp. Typically the vast majority of a certain Slavic ethnic group have the same religion.

1. Those who are mainly Eastern Orthodox with small Catholic minorities: 2. Those who are mainly Roman Catholic or Uniate with small Protestant minorities: 3. Those who are mainly Muslim: 4. Those who are a religious mixture:

The Orthodox/Catholic religious divisions become further exacerbated by the use of the Cyrillic alphabet by the Orthodox and Uniates (Greek Catholics) and of the Roman alphabet by Roman Catholics. However, the Serbian language can be written using both the Cyrillic and Roman alphabets. There is also a Latin script to write in Belarusian, called the Lacinka alphabet. The Bosnian language was written using the Arabic alphabet until the 20th century, but it now use the Roman alphabet.

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See also

bg:Славяни bs:Slaveni de:Slawen eo:Slava Grupo he:סלאבים hr:Slaveni it:Slavo lt:Slavai ja:スラヴ人 ko:슬라브 민족 nl:Slavische volkeren no:Slavere pl:Słowianie pt:Povos eslavos ro:Slavi ru:Славяне sl:Slovani sv:Slaver fi:Slaavit uk:Слов’яни

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