Slavonic, a. and n.
(sləˈvɒnɪk)
Also 7 Slauonique, 7–9 Sclavonic.
[ad. med.L. S(c)lavonic-us, f. Slavonia: see Slavonian.]
A. adj. Of, belonging or pertaining to, the Slavs or their language; Slavic; Slavonian.
| α c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. 382 The Sclavonic tongue hath abolished her [the Greek tongue] in Epire and Macedon. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., A Greek, Latin and Sclavonic Dictionary. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. lv. V. 564 The Sclavonic city of Julin. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. ix. note, Teutonic Germany, or Celtic Gaul, or Sclavonic Illyria. 1876 A. J. Evans Through Bosnia i. 2 A Sclavonic tongue begins to be heard around. Ibid. 4 The headings over the shops are almost entirely Sclavonic. |
| β 1614 Brerewood Lang. & Relig. 59 Yet is not the Slauonique tongue..the vulgar language of the Turkish Empire. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxxiii. (1674) 91 Terms, which..seemed rather to be Slavonick words. 1802 Pinkerton Mod. Geogr. I. 299 The Slavonic tribe of Rossi. 1845 S. Austin tr. Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 309 In those districts where the Germanic and Slavonic elements are intermingled. 1883 Morfill Slavonic Lit. i. 21 The introduction of the Roman ritual into the Southern Slavonic countries. |
B. n. The language of the Slavs.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 3 The Slavonic is extended, though with some variation, through many large Territories. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Each..have their particular Dialect; only the Sclavonic is the common Mother of their several Languages. 1791 Boswell Johnson 23 Mar. 1772, He [Johnson] observed, that the Bohemian language was true Sclavonick. 1848 Soames Latin Church i. 4 Their converts worshipped in Sclavonic, the language which those people spoke. 1883 Morfill Slavonic Lit. i. 7 The modern Bulgarian language shows Slavonic in a very corrupted form. |
Hence
Slaˈvonicize v. trans., to Slavicize.
| 1883 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 194/1 The Slavonic or Slavonicized population. |