Etymology

Slav

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Today it means: A member of any of the peoples of Europe who speak the Slavic languages. Full definition →

Middle English Sclave ← Medieval Latin Sclāvus ← Medieval Greek Σκλᾰ́βος (Sklắbos)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱlewH-der.?
  2. Proto-Slavic*slov-
  3. Proto-Slavic*Slov-?
  4. Proto-Slavic*slověninъ
  5. Ancient GreekΣκλαβηνός (Sklabēnós)
  6. Medieval GreekΣκλᾰ́βος (Sklắbos)
  7. Medieval LatinSclāvus
  8. Middle EnglishSclave
  9. English todaySlav

From Middle English Sclave, borrowed from Medieval Latin Sclavus, from Medieval Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos); see that entry for more. Doublet of slave and ciao. Displaced native Old English Wined.

Words from the same roots

Middle EnglishSclave all →

slave

Medieval LatinSclavus all →

slaveciaoSlavi

Medieval GreekΣκλάβος all →

slave

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.