The Slavic group of languages is a major branch of the Indo-European languages, since the Slavs are the largest group of people in Europe united by similar speech and culture. More than 400 million people use them.
General information
The Slavic group of languages is a branch of the Indo-European languages used in most countries of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, parts of Central Europe and northern Asia. It is most closely related to the Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian and the extinct Old Prussian). Languages belonging to the Slavic group originated from Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine) and spread to the remaining territories listed above.
Classification
There are three groups: South Slavic, West Slavic and East Slavic branches.
In contrast to the clearly divergent literary, linguistic boundaries are not always obvious. There are transitional dialects connecting different languages, except in the area where the South Slavs are separated from other Slavs by Romanians, Hungarians and German-speaking Austrians. But even in these isolated areas there are some remnants of the old dialectal continuity (for example, the similarity between Russian and Bulgarian).
It should therefore be noted that the traditional classification into three separate branches should not be considered as a true model of historical development. It is more correct to imagine it as a process in which differentiation and reintegration of dialects constantly took place, as a result of which the Slavic group of languages has a striking homogeneity throughout the territory of its distribution. For centuries, the paths of different peoples crossed, and their cultures mixed.
Differences
But it would still be an exaggeration to assume that communication between any two speakers of different Slavic languages is possible without any linguistic difficulties. Many differences in phonetics, grammar and vocabulary can cause misunderstandings even in a simple conversation, not to mention difficulties in journalistic, technical and artistic speech. Thus, the Russian word “green” is recognizable to all Slavs, but “red” means “beautiful” in other languages. Suknja is “skirt” in Serbo-Croatian, “coat” in Slovenian, a similar expression “suknya” is “dress” in Ukrainian.
Eastern group of Slavic languages
It includes Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Russian is the native language of nearly 160 million people, including many residents of countries that were part of the former Soviet Union. Its main dialects are northern, southern and transitional central group. It also includes the Moscow dialect, on which the literary language is based. In total, about 260 million people speak Russian in the world.
In addition to the “great and mighty”, the Eastern Slavic group of languages includes two more large languages.
- Ukrainian, which is divided into northern, southwestern, southeastern and Carpathian dialects. The literary form is based on the Kiev-Poltava dialect. More than 37 million people speak Ukrainian in Ukraine and neighboring countries, and more than 350,000 people speak the language in Canada and the United States. This is explained by the presence of a large ethnic community of migrants who left the country at the end of the 19th century. The Carpathian dialect, which is also called Carpatho-Rusyn, is sometimes considered a separate language.
- Belarusian is spoken by about seven million people in Belarus. Its main dialects are: southwestern, some features of which can be explained by its proximity to Polish lands, and northern. The Minsk dialect, which serves as the basis for the literary language, lies on the border of these two groups.
West Slavic branch
It includes Polish and other Lechitic (Kashubian and its extinct variant Slovinian), Lusatian and Czechoslovak dialects. This Slavic group is also quite common. More than 40 million people speak Polish not only in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe (particularly Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Belarus), but also in France, the USA and Canada. It is also divided into several subgroups.
Polish dialects
The main ones are northwestern, southeastern, Silesian and Masovian. The Kashubian dialect is considered part of the Pomeranian languages, which, like Polish, are classified as Lechitic. Its speakers live west of Gdansk and on the Baltic Sea coast.
The extinct Slovinian dialect belonged to the northern group of Kashubian dialects, which differs from the southern one. Another unused Lechitic language is Polabian, which was spoken in the 17th and 18th centuries. Slavs who lived in the Elbe River area.
Its name is Serbian, which is still spoken by the people of Lusatia in East Germany. It has two literary (used in Bautzen and the surrounding area) and Lower Sorbian (common in Cottbus).
Czechoslovakian group of languages
It includes:
- Czech, spoken by about 12 million people in the Czech Republic. His dialects are Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian. The literary language was formed in the 16th century in Central Bohemia on the basis of the Prague dialect.
- Slovak, it is used by about 6 million people, the majority are residents of Slovakia. Literary speech was formed on the basis of the dialect of Central Slovakia in the middle of the 19th century. Western Slovak dialects are similar to Moravian and differ from central and eastern ones, which share features with Polish and Ukrainian.
South Slavic group of languages
Among the three main ones, it is the smallest in terms of the number of native speakers. But this is an interesting group of Slavic languages, the list of which, as well as their dialects, is very extensive.
They are classified as follows:
1. Eastern subgroup. These include:
2. Western subgroup:
- Serbo-Croatian language - about 20 million people use it. The basis for the literary version was the Shtokavian dialect, which is widespread in most of the Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian and Montenegrin territories.
- Slovene is a language spoken by more than 2.2 million people in Slovenia and surrounding areas of Italy and Austria. It shares some common features with the dialects of Croatia and includes many dialects with large differences between them. In Slovenian (in particular its western and northwestern dialects) traces of old connections with the West Slavic languages (Czech and Slovak) can be found.
SLAVIC LANGUAGES, a group of languages belonging to the Indo-European family, spoken by more than 440 million people in Eastern Europe and North and Central Asia. The thirteen currently existing Slavic languages are divided into three groups: 1) the East Slavic group includes Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages; 2) West Slavic includes Polish, Czech, Slovak, Kashubian (spoken in a small area in northern Poland) and two Lusatian (or Serbian) languages - Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian, spoken in small areas in eastern Germany; 3) the South Slavic group includes: Serbo-Croatian (spoken in Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina), Slovenian, Macedonian and Bulgarian. In addition, there are three dead languages - Slovinian, which disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, Polabian, which died out in the 18th century, as well as Old Church Slavonic - the language of the first Slavic translations of the Holy Scriptures, which is based on one of the ancient South Slavic dialects and which was used in worship in the Slavic Orthodox Church, but was never an everyday spoken language ( cm. OLD SLAVONIC LANGUAGE).
Modern Slavic languages have many words in common with other Indo-European languages. Many Slavic words are similar to the corresponding English ones, for example: sister –sister,three – three,nose – nose,night – night and etc. In other cases, the common origin of the words is less obvious. Russian word see cognate with Latin videre, Russian word five cognate with German fünf, Latin quinque(cf. musical term quintet), Greek penta, which is present, for example, in a borrowed word pentagon(lit. "pentagon") .
An important role in the system of Slavic consonantism is played by palatalization - the approach of the flat middle part of the tongue to the palate when pronouncing a sound. Almost all consonants in Slavic languages can be either hard (non-palatalized) or soft (palatalized). In the field of phonetics, there are also some significant differences between the Slavic languages. In Polish and Kashubian, for example, two nasal vowels have been preserved - ą And ERROR, disappeared in other Slavic languages. Slavic languages vary greatly in stress. In Czech, Slovak and Sorbian the stress usually falls on the first syllable of a word; in Polish – to the penultimate; in Serbo-Croatian, any syllable except the last one can be stressed; in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, stress can fall on any syllable of a word.
All Slavic languages, except Bulgarian and Macedonian, have several types of declension of nouns and adjectives, which vary in six or seven cases, in number and in three genders. The presence of seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative or prepositional and vocative) indicates the archaic nature of the Slavic languages and their closeness to the Indo-European language, which supposedly had eight cases. An important feature of Slavic languages is the category of verbal aspect: every verb belongs to either the perfective or imperfective form and denotes, respectively, either a completed, or a continuing or repeating action.
The territory inhabited by Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe in the 5th–8th centuries. AD expanded rapidly, and by the 8th century. The common Slavic language spread from the north of Russia to the south of Greece and from the Elbe and the Adriatic Sea to the Volga. Up to the 8th or 9th century. it was basically a single language, but gradually the differences between territorial dialects became more noticeable. By the 10th century There were already predecessors to modern Slavic languages.
English for business, German for war, Italian for art, French for love... They say that every language has its own character.
English language
English language. Language of international communication. The ability to communicate in English has become the norm. It is predicted that by 2015 English will be spoken by half the world. This language has become an integral part of the knowledge base of a modern educated person.
In terms of the number of words, English is considered the richest language in the world - it has over a million words (Yiddish is in second place, Russian is in third). He may seem emotionally stingy due to his poorly developed word formation, but once you reach a certain level, you will appreciate his internal logic and laconicism.
You can start speaking English quite quickly. English pronunciation, confusing reading rules - all this is compensated by simple grammar, which fits into a clear pattern.
Italian language
Italian language. The only official language in Italy and San Marino, and one of 4 official languages in Switzerland. In addition, it is recognized as a second official language in several districts of Croatia and Slovenia with a significant Italian population, and is also used in several countries in the Americas and North-East Africa. In total, it is spoken by at least 70 million people.
The Italian language directly goes back to folk Latin (just think, its sound is the sound of history!). The emotional, melodic Italian language will enrich the spiritual and aesthetic baggage of any cultured person. And for a musician, artist, or architect, Italian is simply necessary in their work.
Very simple reading rules and Italian pronunciation close to Russian make it easier to learn at the first stage. Despite the variety of articles, pronouns, irregular verbs and other nuances, Italian grammar is also not particularly difficult to understand and master.
In addition to the standard Italian language, there are many dialects in Italy that can easily be called separate languages, they are so different from each other and incomprehensible to the native inhabitants of Italy.
However, it is still worth learning Italian: in the Italian “outback”, local residents speak only a dialect that is passed down orally from generation to generation, and literary Italian, which the whole country learns in school. And they don't speak English!
Spanish
Spanish is one of the 6 working languages of the UN; it is spoken by about 500 million people. Official language in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Equatorial Guinea. Spanish is also used in the Philippines, Western Sahara and Morocco. In terms of the number of native speakers (over 400 million), Spanish may overtake English in a few years and will be second only to Chinese.
It is not bad for a modern educated person to be able to communicate in this widely spoken language - temperamental, decisive and passionate. The emotionality and expression of the Spanish language are due to Arabic influence, which was reflected both in the culture of the country and in the sound of words - the most beautiful Spanish words are of Arabic origin. Classic “Castilian” and Latin American varieties of Spanish differ mainly in vocabulary, and knowing “Castilian” Spanish, you will be able to communicate in Latin America. Spaniards do not strive to learn English and do not like English words, using them in Spanish pronunciation and not understanding them in English. Therefore, when going to Spain, stock up on your knowledge of Spanish in order to communicate with the locals and enjoy their hospitality!
Spanish is not a difficult language to learn: clear reading rules, fairly simple pronunciation; verb conjugation takes a little getting used to, but the task is made easier by the fact that not all Spanish tenses are used equally often - a few are enough to start communicating, and more complex ones will gradually and harmoniously fit into a clear pattern and you will use them, enjoying the ability to speak English. Spanish is beautiful.
Portuguese
Portuguese. The number of Portuguese speakers is approximately 240 million. Portuguese serves as the official language of Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde (Cape Verde), Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe, East Timor and Macau/Macao. In addition, hundreds of thousands of residents of France, Paraguay, South Africa, the USA and India (Goa region) speak Portuguese. There are two main varieties of Portuguese: European and Brazilian, but residents of Portugal and Brazil have no difficulty understanding each other.
The Portuguese language reflects the history of the people who speak it: Portuguese retains traces of the ancient Celtic language, as well as words from the languages of the pre-Roman colonists (Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian). There are signs of Germanic influence in the Portuguese language, but most of all borrowings are from Arabic and Italian. Spanish, which was used for a long time in Portugal as a literary language, had a great influence on the Portuguese language. The Portuguese language did not escape French influence. The discovery and development of vast overseas territories by the Portuguese left an imprint on the language. Numerous exotic words, primarily of Asian origin, penetrated into Portuguese, and through it into other European languages. The Portuguese language itself still remains exotic for many... but interest in its “secrets” is growing.
The closest language to Portuguese is Spanish. However, Portuguese phonetics is richer, the reading rules are more numerous (the principle of “as it is written, so it is heard” is not always observed in Portuguese). The grammatical structure is close to Spanish, but it has its own surprises.
French
French is the only official language of France, Monaco and Haiti and one of the official languages of Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Luxembourg, Andorra, Vanuatu and numerous African countries.
Unique charm, piquant and pleasant to the ear...French is the ideal language for casual communication. It is the language of fashion and choreography, winemaking and cheese making... Historically, the French have a negative attitude towards the English language, which is considered the language of international communication. Therefore, in France, to ensure a more hospitable reception, it is better to speak a little French than to speak good English.
The rules for reading in French are numerous, but easy to learn. As for pronunciation... speaking French is simply pleasant! And the French language’s fidelity to traditions (French borrows little from other languages) makes it easier to master it perfectly.
German
German. The only official language of Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, one of the 4 official languages of Switzerland, one of the 3 official languages of Belgium, Luxembourg.
German is one of the most logical languages in the world. When studying it, thought is disciplined. It is the language of science, technology and art. This is the language of philosophers and scientists who have risen to the top of scientific and technical thought. This is the language of Hegel and Kant, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, Goethe and Schiller. The German language is “beautiful and poetic, multifaceted and wise...”.
Simple reading rules, simple pronunciation, clearly regulated grammar - all this makes learning easier. Yes, and you can get used to long German words.
Czech
Czech belongs to the Slavic group. The number of carriers is 12 million people. For 11 million people it is native, incl. 10 million in the Czech Republic, half a million in the USA, 70,000 in Slovakia, 50,000 in Canada, 30,000 in Germany.
It is interesting that the development of the Czech language, the first written monuments of which date back to the end of the 13th century, was interrupted from 1620 to the end of the 18th century, since German was the official language under the Habsburg dynasty. The Czech literary language was revived at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries on the basis of the literature of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries, which gave it a bookish character.
Like all other Slavic languages, the Czech language has much in common with Russian, which greatly speeds up and facilitates its perception and learning. It is relatively easy to learn and will reveal the Russian language to you from unexpected sides!
The apparent similarity of the Czech and Russian languages gives rise to a lot of funny situations.
Russian language
Serbian language
The Serbian language belongs to the Slavic group. The number of carriers is 12 million people. Serbian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Bosnian languages, due to the small number of differences between them, are often combined into one language - Serbo-Croatian.
Serbian language uses two alphabets as writing: based on the Cyrillic alphabet (“Vukovitsa”) and on the Latin alphabet (“Gayevitsa”). The Cyrillic alphabet is considered official, but outside of official use the Latin alphabet is also very often used.
All residents of the former Yugoslavia(except for Slovenians and Macedonians) are able to understand each other without a dictionary, if they do not use specific local vocabulary.
Like all other Slavic languages, Serbian has a lot in common with Russian, which greatly speeds up and facilitates its perception and study.
Slavic languages are related languages of the Indo-European family. More than 400 million people speak Slavic languages.
Slavic languages are distinguished by the similarity of word structure, the use of grammatical categories, sentence structure, semantics (meaning), phonetics, and morphonological alternations. This closeness is explained by the unity of origin of the Slavic languages and their contacts with each other.
Based on the degree of proximity to each other, Slavic languages are divided into 3 groups: East Slavic, South Slavic and West Slavic.
Each Slavic language has its own literary language (a processed part of the national language with written norms; the language of all manifestations of culture) and its own territorial dialects, which are not the same within each Slavic language.
Origin and history of Slavic languages
Slavic languages are closest to the Baltic languages. Both are part of the Indo-European family of languages. From the Indo-European proto-language, the Balto-Slavic proto-language first emerged, which later split into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. But not all scientists agree with this. They explain the special closeness of these proto-languages by the long-term contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs, and deny the existence of the Balto-Slavic language.
But what is clear is that from one of the Indo-European dialects (Proto-Slavic) the Proto-Slavic language was formed, which is the ancestor of all modern Slavic languages.
The history of the Proto-Slavic language was long. For a long time, the Proto-Slavic language developed as a single dialect. Dialectal variants arose later.
In the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e. Early Slavic states began to form in Southeast and Eastern Europe. Then the process of dividing the Proto-Slavic language into independent Slavic languages began.
Slavic languages have retained significant similarities with each other, but at the same time, each of them has unique features.
Eastern group of Slavic languages
Russian (250 million people)
Ukrainian (45 million people)
Belarusian (6.4 million people).
The writing of all East Slavic languages is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.
Differences between East Slavic languages and other Slavic languages:
reduction of vowels (akanye);
the presence of Church Slavonicisms in the vocabulary;
free dynamic stress.
Western group of Slavic languages
Polish (40 million people)
Slovak (5.2 million people)
Czech (9.5 million people)
The writing of all West Slavic languages is based on the Latin alphabet.
Differences between West Slavic languages and other Slavic languages:
In Polish - the presence of nasal vowels and two rows of sibilant consonants; fixed stress on the penultimate syllable. In Czech, the stress is fixed on the first syllable; presence of long and short vowels. The Slovak language has the same features as the Czech language.
Southern group of Slavic languages
Serbo-Croatian (21 million people)
Bulgarian (8.5 million people)
Macedonian (2 million people)
Slovenian (2.2 million people)
Written language: Bulgarian and Macedonian - Cyrillic, Serbo-Croatian - Cyrillic/Latin, Slovenian - Latin.
Differences between South Slavic languages and other Slavic languages:
Serbo-Croatian has free musical stress. In the Bulgarian language there are no cases, a variety of verb forms and the absence of an infinitive (undefined form of the verb), free dynamic stress. Macedonian language - the same as in the Bulgarian language + fixed stress (no further than the third syllable from the end of the word). The Slovenian language has many dialects, the presence of a dual number, and free musical stress.
Writing of Slavic languages
The creators of Slavic writing were the brothers Cyril (Constantine the Philosopher) and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavic for the needs of Great Moravia.
Prayer in Old Church Slavonic
Great Moravia is a Slavic state that existed in 822-907. on the Middle Danube. At its best, it included the territories of modern Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lesser Poland, part of Ukraine and the historical region of Silesia.
Great Moravia had a great influence on the cultural development of the entire Slavic world.
Great Moravia
The new literary language was based on the South Macedonian dialect, but in Great Moravia it acquired many local linguistic features. Later it was further developed in Bulgaria. A rich original and translated literature was created in this language (Old Church Slavonic) in Moravia, Bulgaria, Rus', and Serbia. There were two Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic.
The most ancient Old Church Slavonic texts date back to the 10th century. Since the 11th century. More Slavic monuments have survived.
Modern Slavic languages use alphabets based on Cyrillic and Latin. Glagolitic script is used in Catholic worship in Montenegro and several coastal areas in Croatia. In Bosnia, for some time, in parallel with the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet, the Arabic alphabet was also used (in 1463, Bosnia completely lost its independence and became part of the Ottoman Empire as an administrative unit).
Slavic literary languages
Slavic literary languages did not always have strict norms. Sometimes the literary language in Slavic countries was a foreign language (in Rus' - Old Church Slavonic, in the Czech Republic and Poland - Latin).
The Russian literary language had a complex evolution. It absorbed folk elements, elements of the Old Church Slavonic language, and was influenced by many European languages.
In the Czech Republic in the 18th century. German was dominant. During the period of national revival in the Czech Republic, the language of the 16th century was artificially revived, which at that time was already far from the national language.
The Slovak literary language developed on the basis of the folk language. In Serbia until the 19th century. The Church Slavonic language was dominant. In the 18th century the process of bringing this language closer to the folk one began. As a result of the reform carried out by Vuk Karadzic in the mid-19th century, a new literary language was created.
The Macedonian literary language was finally formed only in the middle of the 20th century.
But there are also a number of small Slavic literary languages (microlanguages), which function along with national literary languages in small ethnic groups. This is, for example, the Polesie microlanguage, Podlyashian in Belarus; Rusyn - in Ukraine; Wichsky - in Poland; Banat-Bulgarian microlanguage - in Bulgaria, etc.
West Slavic languages are a group of Slavic languages, including Czech, Slovak, Polish, Sorbian (in two variants - Upper and Lower Sorbian), as well as the extinct Polabian languages. Distributed in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, partly in the territories of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, as well as in Germany (Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian languages - in the vicinity of the cities of Bautzen, Cottbus and Dresden). Speakers of Western Slavic languages also live in America (USA, Canada), Australia and Europe (Austria, Hungary, France, countries of the Balkan Peninsula, etc.). The total number of speakers is over 60 million people.
In the 6th-7th centuries, the ancestors of the Western Slavs occupied vast areas between the Oder and the Elbe (Laba). The movement of the Slavs from the Carpathian region and the Vistula basin occurred west and southwest to the Oder, beyond the Sudetenland, to the northern tributaries of the Danube. In the west, Slavic tribes lived interspersed with Germanic ones (some of them were Germanized during the 8th-14th centuries; until the mid-18th century, the language of the Polabian tribes was retained), in the south they reached the Danube.
In the West Slavic languages, three subgroups are distinguished: Lechitic, Czech-Slovak, Serbo-Sorbian, differences between which appeared in the late Proto-Slavic era. From the Lechitic subgroup, which included Polish, Polabian, Kashubian, and earlier other tribal languages, the Polish language with the Kashubian dialect, which retained a certain genetic independence, was preserved.
The most common West Slavic languages are Polish (35 million), Czech (9.5 million) and Slovak (4.5 million). A small population of Kashubians lives in Poland. The Polabian language is now a dead language. It is reconstructed on the basis of individual words and local names available in Latin and German documents, in small recordings of live speech of the 17th-18th centuries.
The Lusatian languages are preserved in the form of small islands in Germany. There are about 150 thousand Lusatian residents. They have their own schools, their own press, and there is a Slavic department at the University of Berlin.
West Slavic tribes
BODRICHI (obodrits, rarogs) - a medieval union of Slavic tribes, the so-called Polabian Slavs. The area of residence is the lower reaches of the Elbe (Lab), the west of modern Mecklenburg, the eastern part of Schleswig-Holstein and the northeastern part of modern Lower Saxony (the area east of the city of Hamburg - the so-called "Wendland", the Lüchow-Dannenberg region) where the Drevanes lived. Moreover, in this area, the Obodritian - Polabian Slavic language existed until the 18th century.
In the VIII-XII centuries. The Bodrichi Union was a federal union of the Bodrichi, Vagrs, Polabs, Glinyans, Smolyans, Varnovs, and Drevans. The largest city is Rerik (Rarog?) on the Baltic Sea coast. Other centers: Stargard, Lubice, Velehrad, Warnov, Zwerin, Ilovo, Dobin (near Wismar).
During the reign of the Franks of Charlemagne, the Bodrichi fought on his side against the Lutichians and Saxons, and their prince Drazko (Trasko, Dragovit) recognized himself as a vassal of the Frankish emperor. But the people did not support the prince in his endeavor and he had to flee the country. The Danes, strengthened at the beginning of the 9th century, opposed the Carolingians and their allies in 808. Godfrey of Denmark took Rerik by storm, captured and hanged Prince Godlav (Godeleib), destroyed the city itself, and resettled a larger number of residents (artisans and traders) to Hedeby.
Then the Danes defeated Drazhko twice and Gottfried imposed tribute on the Bodrichi tribe. After the death of Drazko (810) and Gottfried under Prince Slavomir, the Bodrichi restored the alliance with the Carolingians.
By the 9th century, social stratification was intensifying among the Obodrite population, and its own feudal elite was being formed, which borrowed material culture from the Danish and German nobility. At the same time, the first Christian missions appeared. Prince Slavomir was the first to convert to Christianity in 821.
After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire, the Bodrici became vassals of the East Frankish (German) Kingdom. They freed themselves from vassal dependence only in the 30s of the 10th century. In the 90s of the 10th century, Prince Mstivoy I, having concluded an alliance with the Danish king Harald Bluetooth and marrying his daughter, managed to create the political prerequisites for the creation of the Venedian principality, which, in addition to the Obodrites, also included the Lutich tribes.
This state formation was headed by Prince Godeslav (Godescalcus, Gottschalk) from the Nakonid family, the grandson of Mstivoy, who in 1043 took the Obodrite throne and contributed to the Christianization of the country. In 1066, a pagan uprising arose against Godeslav/Gottschalk and he was killed. Taking advantage of anti-Christian sentiments, the pagan prince Kruto (ruler of Rügen/Ruyan) seized power. Godeslav/Gottschalk's son Henry was able to return power to the Naconids (Billungs) in 1090.
The independent state of the Bodrichi reached its greatest development under Pribyslav I (about 1 AD) and Niklot (about 1 AD). Despite Niklot's attempts to maintain independence, the principality gradually became Germanized. Under Pribyslav II (1), the Bodrichi were actually included in the German kingdom.
The Duchy of Mecklenburg arose on the lands of the Bodrichs, built into the structure of the Holy Roman Empire. Similar to the Germanization of the House of Pomerania in the east, the Slavic dynasty of Nikloting/Niklotich degenerated into typical German feudal lords (see House of Mecklenburg).
By the middle of the 12th century, the Saxon ruler Heinrich the Lion of the Welf family and the Brandenburg margrave Albrecht the Bear of the Askani family included the Vendian territories into their states.
In 1147, Christian feudal lords and crusading knights organized a crusade against the Slavic pagans in Northern Polabie and transformed the lands of the Bodrichi and Lutich into the Mecklenburg Mark, after which the process of Christianization and gradual “Germanization” and assimilation of the Bodrichi began.
VAGRY - a West Slavic tribe that lived in the Middle Ages on the Vagria Peninsula. One of the tribes of the so-called Polabian Slavs. The Vagrs were the most northwestern tribe of the Bodriči union. Their range, which they presumably mastered in the 7th century, covered the east of what is now the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.
The main fortification of the Wagr was Starigard (Stargrad), later renamed Oldenburg, which housed the residence of their prince and sanctuary. At the beginning of the 10th century, the Wagers were conquered by Otto I and converted to Christianity, retaining their own princes. A bishopric was created in Stargrad in 968, but the Slavic uprisings of 983 and 990 eliminated it and German power. Once again falling under the influence of the Germans, the Wahrs managed to repeat a successful revolt in 1066 and were again free for almost a hundred years. Led by the pagan prince Kruko, they even took over the supremacy in the Bodrichi union until 1090. In the Baltic Sea region, the Vagr were known as dangerous pirates, attacking the Danish islands like the Vikings.
In 1138/39, the lands of the Wagars were devastated and subjugated by the Saxons from the northern Elbe. gave Wagria to Adolf II of Holstein, who from 1143 began to populate southern and central Wagria with German settlers. The northern lands around Stargrad and Lutenburg remained Vagr. Subsequently, the descendants of the Wagr were completely assimilated into the German population.
DREVANE (V.-Lug. Drjewjanscy Slowjenjo; Polish. Drzewianie) - one of the branches of the Polabian Slavs, who lived in the modern region of Lüchow-Dannenberg. They were one of the constituent tribes of the Bodrichi union. In the 9th century, their lands were conquered by the Germans. Today, the territories south of Hamburg, inhabited at that time by the Slavs, are called the Luneburg Heath or Wendland (the Germans used to call the Slavs Wends). The Drevani language became extinct in the 19th century.
LYUTICHI (Wiltsy, Velety) - a union of West Slavic tribes. One of the tribal unions of the so-called Polabian Slavs - the original Slavic population of modern northern, northwestern and eastern Germany. The name comes from the word "fierce". In addition to the Lutichi, the Polabian Slavs included the tribal unions of the Bodrichi (Obodrits, Rarogs or Rereks) and the Lusatians (Lusatian Serbs, Milchans or simply Serbs). The Lyutichs themselves consisted of Dolenchans, Ratars, Khizhans and Kerezpenyans.
Ptolemy named the Wends one of the most numerous peoples of Sarmatia and placed them on the Baltic Sea coast east of the Vistula. To the east of the Wends on the coast lived, according to Ptolemy, certain Velts, whose name is presumably associated with the West Slavic Lutich-Veleta (veletabi in German medieval chronicles). To the south of the Wends lived the Giphons, Galindas and Sudins. If the first tribe is unknown, then the other two peoples are associated with the East Prussian Baltic-speaking tribes, known in Rus' as Golyad and Yatvingians (Sudovites).
The Lutici lived in the territories of the current German federal states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Brandenburg (north of Brandenburg). Both states are in eastern Germany.
The center of the Lutich union was the Radogost sanctuary in the city of Retra, in which the god Svarozhich was revered. This sanctuary was located on the territory of the Ratars (Redarii, Retrians), who were the most powerful tribe in the Lutich tribal union. All decisions were made at a large tribal meeting, and there was no central authority. Also, one of the capitals of the Lyutichs was the city of Arkona, located on the island of Rügen (Slavic name Ruyan) with the sanctuary of the god Svyatovit. This city was destroyed by the Danes under King Valdemar I, during the wars waged by the German states that had already adopted Christianity at that time against the lands of the Polabian Slavs, with the goal of annexing these rich lands to the German states and converting the local population to Christianity. The Danes, in particular, took part in these wars, pursuing as their goal, in addition to the spread of Christianity, also protection from the Luticians, as well as revenge for the attacks and devastation that the Luticians had previously committed against Denmark; finally, the goal was liberation from the tribute paid to the Lutich by some Danish provinces.
According to the "Annals of the Kingdom of the Franks", in 789 Charlemagne made a campaign against the Wilts (Lutichs), the reason for the campaign was that the Lutichs constantly disturbed their northern neighbors (Obodrites) - allies of the Franks. After the Franco-Saxon army crossed the river. Elba, he was joined by the Sorbs and encouraged, led by Prince Vyshan. The Vilians could not resist for long, they submitted and handed over the hostages. Charles I entrusted the conquered country to the prince of the Obodrites, Dragovit (Drazhko), who was killed around 810. The Lyutici were driven back to the Pena River.
The Luticians led the Slavic uprising of 983 against German colonization of the lands east of the Elbe, as a result of which colonization was suspended for almost two hundred years. Even before this, they were ardent opponents of the German king Otto I. It is known about his descendant, Henry II, that he did not try to enslave them, but rather lured them with money and gifts to his side in the fight against Poland Boleslav the Brave.
Military and political successes strengthened the Lutichi's commitment to paganism and pagan customs, which also applied to the related Bodrichi. However, in the 1050s, internecine war broke out among the component tribes of the Lutich and changed their position. The alliance quickly lost power and influence, and after the central sanctuary in the city of Retra was destroyed by the Saxon Duke Lothair in 1125, the alliance finally disintegrated. Over the next decades, the Saxon dukes gradually expanded their possessions to the east and conquered the lands of the Lutichians.
RATARI (lat. redarii) is the name of a West Slavic tribe that lived south of the Pena River, which flows into the Odra at its very mouth, between Lake Dolensko and the upper reaches of Havela and Dosha. Introduced into literature by R. Safarik. According to medieval chroniclers, their capital was Retra with the sanctuary of Redegast; they themselves were part of a tribal union
RUYAN (rans) - a West Slavic tribe that inhabited the island of Rügen (Ruyan) from the 6th century.
During the Middle Ages, the Slavs (the so-called Polabian Slavs) inhabited the lands of what is now eastern, northern and northwestern Germany, including the island of Rügen. The Ruyan tribe was ruled by princes who lived in fortresses. The religious center of Ruyan was the sanctuary of Arkon, in which the god Svyatovit was revered. The Ruyans were probably part of the military-tribal alliance of the Obodrites.
The main occupation of the Ruyans was cattle breeding, farming and fishing. According to archeology, the Ruyans had extensive trade ties with Scandinavia and the Baltic states, and also committed predatory and pirate raids. For example, some provinces of Denmark, before King Valdemar I, paid tribute to the Ruyans, which was one of the reasons for the wars that Valdemar I waged with them. During these wars, the Ruyans lost their independence in 1168, their cult fortress of Arkona was destroyed, and the sanctuary of Svyatovit was destroyed.
According to Danish chronicles, the prince of Ruyan Jaromar (Jaromir) became a vassal of the Danish king, and the island became part of the bishopric of Roskilde. The first conversion of the Ruyans to Christianity dates back to this period. In 1234, the Rujans freed themselves from Danish rule and expanded their possessions on the coast of the modern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, founding the city now known as Stralsund (in Pomeranian Strzelowo, in Polish Strzalow). In 1282, Prince Witzlaus II entered into an agreement with King Rudolf I of Germany, receiving Rügen for life along with the title of Imperial Jägermeister. Further, the Slavs of Rügen, being part of various German state entities, gradually became completely Germanized over the next several centuries. In 1325, the last Ruyan prince Vitslav died (who was also a minnesinger and created a number of lyrical songs and didactic poems). In 1404, Gulitsyna died, who, together with her husband, belonged to the last inhabitants of Ruyan who spoke Slavic.
SLOVINTS - a West Slavic tribe that lived within the current West Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland. The main area of their settlement was located between the cities of Slupsk and Leba.
The Slowinians differed from the Catholic Kashubians who lived in Eastern Pomerania in that they were Protestants. Perhaps this contributed to the fact that many Slovinians switched to German at the end of the 17th century, since Protestant services were conducted in it. Many topographic names, however, remained of Slavic origin.
After 1945, the descendants of the Slovinians were expelled from Poland expanded to the west along with the Germans. Attempts were made to reserve for them the right not to leave their native places, emphasizing their Slavic origin. However, the few Slovinians who were allowed to stay subsequently left their region themselves.
The Slowinians had a dialect or language closely related to Kashubian, which became extinct in the 20th century.
Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs (German: Sorben, N.-Luz. Serby, V.-Luz. Serbja, N.-Luz. Serbski lud, V.-Luz. Serbski lud), Sorbs, ve? Ndy, Lugia - Slavic people. The remainder of the Slavic population of eastern Germany currently live in the territory of Lusatia, a historical region that is part of modern Germany. Lusatia is divided into Lower Lusatia (Dolna Luzyca, Niederlausitz) - in the north, in the federal state of Brandenburg, and Upper Lusatia (Hornja Luzica, Oberlausitz) - in the south, in the federal state of Saxony. The last surviving ethnic community of Slavs in Germany, whose representatives use the Slavic language.
Modern Lusatians are the remnant of the Lusatian Serbs or simply Serbs, one of the 3 main tribal unions of the so-called Polabian Slavs, which also included the tribal unions of the Lutich (Velets or Weltz) and the Bodrichi (Obodrit, Rerek or Rarog). The Polabian Slavs, or Vends in German, in the early Middle Ages inhabited at least a third of the territory of the modern German state - the north, north-west and east. At present, all of them, with the exception of the Lusatians, are completely Germanized. The process of including Polabian and Pomeranian lands into the German states stretched over the period from the 8th to the 14th centuries. The first attempts to conquer the lands of the Lusatian Serbs were made by Charlemagne. However, the Lusatians regained their independence. In 928-929, the German king Henry I defeated the alliance of Lusatian tribes, and they came under the rule of the East Frankish kingdom. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Lusatian lands were conquered by Poland, however, they soon came under the rule of the Meissen Margraviate. In 1076, the German Emperor Henry IV ceded the Lusatian Mark to the Czech Republic. Colonists from Germany moved en masse to Lusatia, receiving various trade and tax privileges from the Czech state. After the establishment of the Habsburg dynasty in the Czech Republic, the processes of Germanization of the Slavic population accelerated. In the 17th century, the Lusatian lands were ceded to Saxony, and in the 19th century they became part of Prussia, and from 1871 - part of the German Empire.
The first settlements of the Lusatian Serbs, in accordance with German theories, were recorded presumably in the 6th century, when the process of separating the Slavs as such from earlier Indo-European communities took place. In Brandenburg there is a restored Lusatian fortress from the 9th-10th centuries. Raddush.
Modern Lusatian language is divided into Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian.
Pomeranians, Pomeranians - West Slavic tribes who lived until the 16th-17th centuries. in the lower reaches of the Odra on the Baltic Sea coast. In 900, the border of the Pomeranian range ran along the Odra in the west, the Vistula in the east and Noteč in the south. They gave the name to the historical area of Pomerania (in Slavic Pomerania or Pomerania).
In the 10th century, the Polish prince Mieszko I included the Pomeranian lands into the Polish state. In the 11th century, the Pomeranians rebelled and regained independence from Poland. During this period, their territory expanded west from the Odra into the lands of the Lutich. On the initiative of Prince Wartislaw I, the Pomeranians adopted Christianity.
From the 1180s, German influence began to increase and German settlers began to arrive on the Pomeranian lands. Due to the devastating wars with the Danes, the Pomeranian feudal lords welcomed the settlement of the devastated lands by the Germans. Over time, the process of Germanization and Polonization of the Pomeranian population began. Having escaped assimilation among the Germans and Poles, the remnant of the ancient Pomeranians today are the Kashubians, numbering 300 thousand people.