Probably from *slovo (word) — 'people who speak intelligibly,' contrasted with *nemici, 'the mutes' (Germans).
A branch of the Indo-European language family that includes Russian, Polish, Czech, Serbian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and other languages of Eastern and Central Europe; also used as an adjective.
From Medieval Latin 'Sclavus,' from Byzantine Greek 'Sklábos' (Σκλάβος), from the Slavic peoples' self-designation *Slověninъ (plural *Slověne). The native name is most likely derived from *slovo (word, speech), making the Slavs literally 'the people who speak [intelligibly]' — in contrast to their name for the Germanic peoples, *němьci, from *němъ (mute, incomprehensible), which survives in Russian 'nemtsy' (Germans) and Polish 'Niemcy.' The tragic secondary meaning of 'slave' derives from the same source, through the capture and
The Slavic peoples named themselves 'the speakers' (*Slověne, from *slovo, 'word') and called their Germanic neighbors 'the mute ones' (*němьci, from *němъ, 'mute') — a naming pattern that reveals how ancient peoples defined ethnic identity through language. To this day, the Russian word for Germans is 'nemtsy' and the Polish is 'Niemcy,' both meaning literally 'the mutes.'