The Slavs belong to the Aryan or Indo-European group of races.

As the original dwelling place of the Slav race the majority of savants designate the territory between the Carpathians and the Baltic Sea, along the rivers Elbe, Vistula and Dnieper. It is generally assumed that during the great migration of nations in the course of the first centuries after Christ, various Slavonic tribes have left their original common home and migrated West and South, forming several separate groups, which in the course of time have developed characteristic religious, climatic and linguistic idiosynsrasies. This theory is considered the most plausible historically, though it is not quite corroborated by archeological research.

The NAME SLAVS (Slovene) has been differently interpreted as being derived from “slavnÝ” (glorious) or “slovo” (word, speech, sermon). It is assumed that the Slavs called themselves so, because they could understand each other, while they called their neighbors, the Germans, whose speech was unintelligible to them “Nemtsy” (ne-umtsy), i. e. people who were unable to speak intelligently. Another theory is that the appellation Slovene was first adopted by a Slav tribe living in the vicinity of Saloniki, which had been converted to Christianity by the Sts. Cyrill and Methodius, and, having at the same time learned the use of writing, wished to be known as a more educated people, in contradistinction from other, still illiterate, tribes. Their language has been preserved in the Orthodox church liturgy and is called the Old Slavonic. As Christianity, and with it the use of writing, gradually spread among the other Slav tribes, the distinctive name Slovene was also adopted by them, and finally became synonymous of the whole race.

Originally the whole territory East of the river Elbe, part of Western Saxony, Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary and Illyria were inhabited by Slavs. From their settlements on the Elbe the Slavs were gradually driven East by the Germans, in Hungary they were driven from the plains into the mountains, i. e. the Carpathians, Tatra, the Alps and the Carso. In the Balkan peninsula they were hemmed in by the Greeks and later by the Turks. In Russia they were several times overrun by Asiatic races. They stubbornly held their ground as guardians of Europe against Asiatic domination, particularly so their Eastern and Southern groups. These constant struggles have somewhat retarded their intellectual and economic development, but their latent strength will surely bring them to the position they should rightfully occupy in the world’s history.

According to their present dwellings the Slavs can be divided into three groups:

I. NORTHWESTERN, comprising the Bohemians (Czechs), Slovaks, Lusatian Serbs (Wends), Poles and Kashubes.

II. EASTERN, comprising Russians, i. e. Great Russians, Little Russians (Ruthenians, Ugro-Russians) and White Russians.

III. SOUTHERN, comprising the Slovenes, Serbo-Croatians and Bulgarians.

THE NUMERICAL STRENGTH of the Slav nations is variously estimated between 140 and 150 millions, distributed approximately as follows:

THE MUTUAL RESEMBLANCE of the Slavonic languages is very great, especially in syntax and grammatical structure. If a Bohemian, for example, learns Russian thoroughly, he can understand and translate the remaining Slavonic languages with a considerable degree of accuracy.

One may best judge of the similarity of the Slavonic languages by comparing the following examples, which are the translation of the first four verses of the Lord’s Prayer:

Bohemian (Czech):

Otce nÁŠ, kterÝ jsi v nebesÍch, posvet se jmÉno tvÉ. Prijd krÁlovstvÍ tvÉ; bud vule tvÁ, jako v nebi tak i na zemi.

Old Slavonic:

Otce naŠ, ie jesi na nebesech! da svjatitsja imja tvojÉ, da priidet carstvie tvojÉ: da bÚdet vÔlja tvojÁ, jako na nebesi i na zemi.

Bulgarian:

Tatko ny kojto si v nebe-to, neka da se svjati ime-to tvoje; da dojde carstvo-to tvoje; da bude volja-ta tvoja kakto na nebe-to, taka i na zemja-ta.

Serbo-Croatian:

Oce naŠ koji je si na nebesima, da se sveti ime tvoje; da dodje carstvo tvoje; da bude volja tvoja, i na zemlji kao na nebu.

Slovene:

Oce naŠ, ki si v nebesih, posveceno bodi ime tvoje. Pridi kraljevstvo tvoje. Zgodi se volja tvoja, kakor v nebesih, tako na zemlji.

Lusatian Serbian:

WÔtce naŠ, ki sy w njebjesach; swjecene bud twoje mjeno; prind k nam twoje kralestwo; twoja wola so stan ka na njebju, tak te na zemi.

Polish:

Ojcze nasz, ktÓry jest w niebie, swiec sie imie twoje, przyjdz krÓlestwo twoje, badz wola twoja jako w niebie tak i na ziemi.

Little Russian:

Otce naŠ Šco na nebi! Nechaj svjatitsja imja tvoje. Nechaj priide carstvo tvoje. Nechaj bude volja tvoja jak na nebi, tak i na zemlj.

Russian:

Otec naŠ kotorj jesi na nebesach; da svjatitsja imja tvojo, da pridot cÁrstvo tvojo, da budet volja tvoja kak na nebesach i na zemli.

WRITING:

The invention of the oldest Slavonic writing, the glagolitsa, is generally attributed to the two apostles, Cyrill and Methodius, but it seems that this writing had already been in use prior to their advent. It is derived from the old Greek alphabet, to which new letters, representing sounds unknown to Greek, such as Št, Šc, Š, c, jer, jery, jat, were added. From the rather unwieldy letters of the glagolitsa the more mobile kyrillitsa has been evolved, which is now used in the Russian-Orthodox church books. The modern Russian alphabet, the gradanka, is a simplified form of kyrillitsa, and was first introduced by Peter the Great of Russia. It is used by all Orthodox Slavs: the Russians and Little Russians, the Bulgarians and Serbs. Those of the Slavonic tribes who came under the influence of the Roman-Catholic church, i. e. Czechs, Slovaks, Lusatian Serbs, Slovenes, Croatians and Poles, have adopted the Latin alphabet.

A BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE SLAVONIC LANGUAGES.

OLD SLAVONIC, also called Church Slavonic, was originally spoken in the vicinity of Saloniki, and was the first literary language of the Slavs. The old Bulgarian language is the one most closely related to it. Its structure and vocabulary are used as a basis for comparative philology.

BOHEMIAN (Czech) and SLOVAK have been treated in detail in the foregoing pages.

BULGARIAN is spoken by a race of Ugro-Finnish origin, which emigrated from Northern Russia to the Balkans and adopted the language of the Slav tribes whom it conquered. Its main characteristic is the use of definite article at the end of nouns, cf. car-at, zemja-ta, nebe-to. Its older literature contains many fine examples of Slav poesy. (There are three principal dialects spoken in Bulgaria: the Danubian, the Thracian and the Macedonian, which form the bridge between the Russian on the one side and the Serbo-Croatian on the other.)

SERBO-CROATIAN is spoken in Serbia, Croatia-Slavonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Adriatic islands and Southern Hungary (Bacska, Sirmia and Banat). (There are four principal dialects: cakavŠtina, ŠtokavŠtina, kajkavŠtina and cvrliŠtina.) The only difference between the Serbs and the Croats is that the former are chiefly Orthodox and partly Mohammedan and use the Russian alphabet, while the latter are mostly Roman-Catholics and use the Latin alphabet. The greatest literary treasure of this language constitute the national epics (narodne pjesme), in which the national heroes, who fell in the fateful battle of Kosovo Polje. The chief characteristic of this language is that it is spelt entirely phonetically.

SLOVENE is spoken in Southern Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Istria, Gorizia, Trieste and in several districts near Udine in Italy. It is very much akin to the Serbo-Croatian and shows but slight differences in syntax and composition.

WEND or LUSATIAN SERBIAN is spoken in some districts of the Upper and Lower Lusatia and forms a bridge between the Bohemian and Polish. The center of this tribe, now entirely surrounded by the Germans, is the town of Bautzen (BudyŠÍn).

POLISH is next to Slovak the most akin to Bohemian. Various sounds, which in Bohemian are rendered by diacritical marks, such as Š, r, c, are represented by sz, rz, cz in Polish. A difference is also made between the soft and hard l, as in Russian. The language has also preserved the old Slavonic nasal sounds a (on) and e (en). A glorious national history and splendid literature are the heritage of the Polish nation, and the language is well worth the study.

The KASHUBE is a dialect spoken in Pomerania, near Danzig, by about 200.000 souls. The Kashubes, however, mostly consider themselves Poles.

LITTLE RUSSIAN, also called Ruthenian or Ukrainian, is spoken in Eastern Galicia, in the Carpathians from Uzhorod to MunkÁcs, Northern Bukowina, and Southern Russia, along the Black Sea and the rivers Dniester, Dnieper and Don. It is rich in national poesy, and, like the Serbo-Croatian, has preserved some of the purest characteristics of the Slav race. It constitutes a bridge between the Polish and the Russian, being to a certain extent a mixture of the two languages. It chiefly differs from the Russian in the pronunciation of jery, jat, e, o, and u, cf. dilo (Russ. djelo), buv (Russ. byl), dovg (Russ. dolg), ridny (Russ. rodnoj), ve (Russ. ue), usjaki (Russ. vsjaki).

RUSSIAN, also called Great Russian, is the official language of the Russian Empire. It is the most important of all the Slavonic languages and every Bohemian ought to learn it, especially in view of the great facility with which he can acquire it as compared with non-Slavonic nationalities. By learning it one acquires at the same time the key to all other Slavonic languages, so that one can learn any one of them in less than six months.

The grammatical forms and syntax in Russian are purer and more elaborate than in any other Slavonic tongue. The knowledge of Russian opens one the door to an immense literature, whose beauties have thus far found only a very fragmentary interpretation in America. Bohemians in America ought to devote special attention to the learning of Russian language and affairs, because Russia has a great future before her, and the friendliest relations should be cultivated between her and the United States.

Among the extinct Slavonic languages a special mention deserves the Polabian, which was spoken by the Slav tribes who lived on the river Elbe, i. e. Vagri in Lauenburg and Holstein, Bodrici in Mecklenburg, and Lutici (Veleti) in Brandenburg, as far back as the latter part of the 18th century.