Читать книгу Bohemian Grammar - Jaroslav Victor Nigrin - Страница 4

Table of Contents

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 (Slověne) 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 “Němtsy” (ně-umtsy), i. e. people who were unable to speak intelligently. Another theory is that the appellation Slověne 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 Slověne 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:

Czechs and Slovaks	10,000,000
Lusatian Serbs	180,000
Poles and Kashubes	20,125,000
Russians and White Russians	66,300,000
Little Russians	30,000,000
Serbo-Croatians	9,210,000
Slovenes	1,450,000
Bulgarians	4,850,000

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):

Otče náš, kterýž jsi v nebesích, posvěť se jméno tvé. Přijď království tvé; buď vůle tvá, jako v nebi tak i na zemi.

Old Slavonic:

Otče naš, iže jesi na něbesěch! da svjatitsja imja tvojé, da priidět carstvie tvojé: da búdět 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:

Oče 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:

Oče naš, ki si v nebesih, posvečeno bodi ime tvoje. Pridi kraljevstvo tvoje. Zgodi se volja tvoja, kakor v nebesih, tako na zemlji.

Lusatian Serbian:

Wôtče naš, kiž sy w njebjesach; swječene budž twoje mjeno; přindž k nam twoje kralestwo; twoja wola so staň kaž na njebju, tak tež na zemi.

Polish:

Ojcze nasz, który jest w niebie, świeč sie imie twoje, przyjdź królestwo twoje, badź wola twoja jako w niebie tak i na ziemi.

Little Russian:

Otče naš ščo na nebi! Nechaj svjatitsja imja tvoje. Nechaj priide carstvo tvoje. Nechaj bude volja tvoja jak na nebi, tak i na zemlj.

Russian:

Otěc naš kotorj jesi na něbesach; da svjatiťsja imja tvojo, da priďot cárstvo tvojo, da budeť volja tvoja kak na něbesach 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, šč, š, č, jer, jery, jať, 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 graždanka, 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.