The English word Slav is derived from the Middle English word sclave, which was borrowed from Medieval Latin sclavus or slavus,[42] itself a borrowing and Byzantine Greek σκλάβος sklábos "slave," which was in turn apparently derived from a misunderstanding of the Slavic autonym (denoting a speaker of their own languages).
Ethnonym Slavs means either "speakers of the language" (from Slavic "slovo" - word), or "famous people" and "glorious people" (from Slavic "slava" - fame, glory; which is related to Sanskrit word "sravah" - meaning: famous, celebrated, glorious activities, greatly respected, etc.).
Sanskrit sravah: http://sanskritdictionary.org/sravah
Word slaves comes from ethnonym Slavs, not the other way around.
The origin of this is either because Slavs were very often (more often than others) being enslaved during that period when the word emerged, or because of Slavic exceptional treatment of their own slaves (Slavs lived in democracy and they did not keep their captives & war prisoners in perpetual slavery, but were offering their slaves to become free men and to be peacefully absorbed into Slavic societies - which was very uncommon for other peoples of the time):
Strategikon of Maurice:
"(...) The Slavs do not keep captives in perpetual slavery like other peoples, but demarcate for them a limited period of time, after which they give them choice - they can return home after purchasing their freedom, or stay among them as free people and friends. (...)"
Procopius of Caesarea:
"(...) For these peoples, the Slavs, are not ruled by one man, but they have lived since the ancient times under a democracy, and because of this both the profitable and the troublesome of their affairs are always dealt with among them as common. (...)"
Useful to note that the latin term (it is latin, it doesn't sound greek at all; there are no original greek terms with 3 consonants in succession) Sclavus (and sclavos, a loan-word to Greek) was around far before the slavs appeared in the borders of the Roman Empire(s). Sclavus liberatus (freed slave) was a common category of ex-slaves in the Roman Empire of old (pre Constantine).
A FORTHCOMING BBC documentary on the Tories contains testimony to Michael Portillo's arcane scholarship.
It reports that after his leadership defeat, Portillo sent a text message in Latin to a friend: "Sclavus liberatus felix est." The BBC translates that as "the freed slave is happy". It omits to mention that sclavus is an obscure medieval form of the word. Schoolboy Latin has servus.
Sclavus is certainly not usual in Classical Latin; it's a late-Latin loneword from Greek, though the Greek term is itself a corruption of the Slavs' own name for themselves. Interestingly it appears to have become σκλαβος from σλαβηνος - in other words, the consonant cluster developed in Greek-speaking hands. I'm not sure I can think of any other Greek word with three consecutive consonants.
True, although apart from circa 1000/900 BC stuff or older (ie Homer), most ancient Greek texts are not having terms which would be as alien to a modern speaker of the language. The syntax is a bit different, but the real issue are great changes in grammar...
And pronunciation, as Louis was saying. θ and φ are barely distinguishable from π and τ, β is the sound in 'ball' rather than 'value', μπ is always two separate sounds, vowels are all pronounced distinctly (η is a long, flat sound rather than a sharp one; αι is the initial vowel of 'ice', ει the initial sound of 'acorn') - and so on.