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slav

 - 4 dictionary results

Slav

  [slahv, slav]
Use slav in a Sentence
–noun
1. one of a group of peoples in eastern, southeastern, and central Europe, including the Russians and Ruthenians (Eastern Slavs), the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, Slavonians, Slovenes, etc. (Southern Slavs), and the Poles, Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks, etc. (Western Slavs).
–adjective
2. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Slavs; Slavic.
Origin:
1350–1400; < ML Slāvus, var. of Sclāvus, akin to LGk Sklábos < a Slavic ethnonym, perh. orig. a name for all Slavic tribes (cf. Slovak, Slovene, ORuss Slověně an East Slavic tribe); r. ME Sclave < ML Sclāvus

Slav

 
Slavic.
Also, Slav.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To slav
Slav   (släv)   
n.  A member of one of the Slavic-speaking peoples of eastern Europe.

[Middle English Sclave, from Medieval Latin Sclāvus, from Late Greek Sklabos, alteration of Old Slavic Slověninŭ.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

Slav 
1387, Sclave, from M.L. Sclavus (c.800), from Byzantine Gk. Sklabos (c.580), from O.Slav. Sloveninu "a Slav," probably related to slovo "word, speech," which suggests the name originally meant member of a speech community (cf. O.C.S. Nemici "Germans," related to nemu "dumb;" and cf. O.E. þeode, which meant both "race" and "language"). Identical with the -slav in personal names (e.g. Rus. Miroslav, lit. "peaceful fame;" Mstislav, lit. "vengeful fame;" Jaroslav, lit. "famed for fury;" Czech Bohuslav, lit. "God's glory;" and cf. Wenceslas). Spelled Slave c.1788-1866, infl. by Fr. and Ger. Slave. Adj. Slavic is attested from 1813; earlier Slavonic (c.1645), from Slavonia, a region of Croatia.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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