Slav, n. and a.
(slɑːv, slæv)
Forms: α. 4 Sclaue, 4, 9 Sclave. β. 8–9 Slave. γ. 9 Slav.
[In early use ad. med.L. Sclavus (recorded from c 800), corresponding to late Gr. σκλάβος (c 580): cf. older G. Sklave, Sclav(e, Schlav(e, MHG. Schlaff. The later forms in Sl- correspond to mod.G. and F. Slave, med.L. Slavus (951), and are closer to the OSlav. and Russian forms: see Slovene.]
A. n.
1. A person belonging by race to a large group of peoples inhabiting eastern Europe and comprising the Russians, Bulgarians, Serbo-Croats, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, etc.
| α 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 417 Cirillus, apostel of þe Sclaves. Ibid. VI. 249 He chastede þe Saxons and þe Sclaves. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. viii. xxii. (Tollem. MS.), Þe contre and londe of sclaues. c 1835 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) XXIII. 631/1 Pomerania was originally peopled by the Sclaves. 1876 A. J. Evans Through Bosnia i. 15 The Croatian dress resembles that of all the Southern Sclaves. |
| β 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. lv. V. 544 The national appellation of the Slaves has been degraded by chance or malice from the signification of glory to that of servitude. 1861 J. G. Sheppard Fall of Rome vii. 349 The particular inroad in which the Slaves participated was signalized by the last triumph of the veteran Belisarius. 1889 I. Taylor Orig. Aryans 21 Linguistically the Slaves are closely related to the Letts. |
| γ 1866 Chambers's Encycl. VIII. 383/2 The Eastern Slavs, the ancestors of the Russians. 1880–1 Morfill in Trans. Phil. Soc. 74 A very full account of the North-Western Slavs. 1883 ― Slavonic Lit. ii. 31 We find Slavs settled between the Danube and the Balkan. |
2. = Slavonic n. (
Cf. Fr. slave.) Also
Comb.| 1924 G. G. Walsh Emperor Charles IV iii. 34 The right of the monks, in his presence, to recite the Offices in Slav. 1935 Huxley & Haddon We Europeans vii. 203 The Slav-speaking population of central Europe. 1972 D. Dakin Unification of Greece 265 The Greek Church and the Greek communities had maintained schools where even the Slav-speaking Orthodox could acquire a knowledge of Greek. |
B. adj. Belonging to, characteristic of, or originating with the Slavs; Slavic; Slavonian.
| 1876 A. J. Evans Through Bosnia i. 10 The twin pigtails of maidenhood are far more characteristically Sclave than German. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 403 The Slav trap prepared for her in Bosnia. 1903 G. F. Abbott Tour Macedonia 110 Through great part of Central Macedonia one finds the Slav language predominating in the open country. |
Hence
ˈSlavdom, the Slavonic race generally; Slavs collectively.
| 1881 Times 19 Jan. 9/5 A general casting off of the Turkish yoke from all Slavdom. 1889 Ibid. 15 Aug. 3/4 Outside Slavdom Russia has no politics whatever. |