The Concepts of Eastern and Western Europe

Technically, slav means word AND glory. So it could also mean "glorious word" or "glorious writing", which would sound absolutely hilarious to the Trilangular dogmatists.

Also, yug (or, to be exact, юг) is south in Bulgaria. The o in Yugoslavia is added so that it sounds better. Such is life.
 
English "pole" means a thick wooden stick. Polish "pole" means wide open space or field.

The same word (even pronunciation is similar), but different meanings.

And I don't thing that ethnonym "Poles" for Polish people comes from "thick wooden stick"...

But "Polanie" most certainly means "people who live in wide open flat space, as opposed to those highlanders up there in the mountains".

And "Polacy" ("Poles" in Polish) comes from those Early Medieval people - Polanie.
Interesting, we have all the same words in Russian, just write them in cyrillic. They most likely came from some proto-Slavic language.
Also it looks like there were two medieval tribes with name Поляне (Polanie)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polans_(eastern)

P.S. And of course, "юг" also means "South" in Russian.

Technically, slav means word AND glory.
You don't understand, "Slav" derived from "slave" :)
 
Some argue that it is linked to sclav/sclavus (latin-roman term for slave). Don't know anyway.

Considering what they did to the disciples of St. Kyril and Metodii in Great Moravia, I'm more than inclined to think so*.

*For those not knowing, they were sold into slavery into Venice/by Venetians (unsure).
 
Kyriakos,

In Ancient Latin the word for unfree person was "servus", not "sclavus".

When you check Jordanes (6th century) he uses "servus" for slave, while "Sklaveni, Antes, Venedi" for Slavs.

Today "Servus!" ("Hi unfree person!" :)) is how Germans greet each other.

Sometimes instead of "Servus!" they say "Grüss Gott! ("Greetings Goth!" :)).

6th century authors noticed that Venedi, Antes and Sklaveni had been all known under one name - Spori / Sporoi - in the past.

Procopius links the name Spori / Sporoi to "sporadic" population density. But in Slavic languages "sporo" means "many" and "spori / spory" means "large".

"Sporo ich" (sounds like "Sporoi + ch") means "There are many of them" in Polish language.

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Another etymological mystery is:

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100311184319AAWFK3i

What is the relation between Germans and germs, Deutsche and dousche, Greeks and geeks?

When I typed "dousche" in Google, it asked me: "Czy chodziło ci o: Deutsche?" ("Did you mean: Deutsche?"):

 
Why? Because of "Pole position" ??? :)

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Arab word for Slavs - Sakaliba (singular: Saklab) - might come from legendary son of Yaphet, Saklab, who was raised by dogs:

(...) The Arabs and Persians adopted all ethnonims, except Sakaliba, from the Eastern European peoples, only the ethnonim Sakaliba is in this respect not so clear. V.V. Bartold suggested that the ethnonim Sakaliba (in singular Saklab) is borrowed by the Arabs, probably, from Greek Sklaboi or Sklabenoi, which means the Slavs [Bartold V.V., 1963, 870], he also provides a probability of another etymology: from Persian sek ‘dog’ + leb ‘lip’, this etymology is also based that the Yaphet’s son Saklab was reared by the dog milk [Ibis, 871]. (...)

Later various Muslims used to call all non-Muslims "heathen dogs".

Reference to "dogs" is also in Helmold's "Chronicle of the Slavs", but probably as a typical xenophobic slur applying to foreigners and pagans:

(...) When he [Slavic chieftain] returned from the expedition, he asked for the [German] maiden who had been promised to him, but Margrave Dietrich opposed the plan, vociferating that a kinswoman of the duke should not be given to a dog. On hearing this the Slavic chieftain... (...)
 
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