Sporoi

Sporoi (Greek: Σπόροι) or Spori was according to Eastern Roman scholar Procopius (500–560) the old name of the Antes and Sclaveni, two Early Slavic branches. Procopius stated that the Sclaveni and Antes spoke the same language, but he did not trace their common origin back to the Veneti (as per Jordanes) but to a people he called "Sporoi". He derived the name from Greek σπείρω ("I scatter grain"), because "they populated the land with scattered settlements".

Roman bureaucrat Jordanes wrote about the Slavs in his work Getica (551): "although they derive from one nation, now they are known under three names, the Veneti, Antes and Sclaveni" (ab unastirpe exorti, tria nomina ediderunt, id est Veneti, Antes, Sclaveni); that is, the West Slavs, East Slavs, and South Slavs. He stated that the Veneti were the ancestors of the Sclaveni and the Antes, the two having used to be called Veneti but are now "chiefly" (though, by implication, not exclusively) called Sclaveni and Antes.

Studies

• According to Bohemian historian Josef Dobrovský (1753–1829) and Slovak historian Pavel Jozef Šafárik (1795–1861) it was a corruption of Srbi (Serbs). Šafárik deemed that it was the oldest generic name of the Slavs.
• According to English ethnologist James Cowles Prichard, writing in 1841, it was "an erraneous orthography of Sorbi, a name common to several tribes of the Slavonian family", and that they were called so "because they were scattered over the country in cabins separated from each other".
• Ukrainian historian Mykhailo Hrushevskyi (1866–1934) noted the scholarly view on the matter: Procopius' etymology was rejected as mistaken, and many scholars linked the term with the Serbs; some sought a connection to Ptolemy's Serboi, but "these Serboi lived far to the east, in the Volga region". He noted that the Slavic Serbs appear in historical records in the 9th century, and Serbs may have had a broader sense suggested by two completely distinct Slavic peoples (Balkan Serbs and Lusatian Sorbs), however, according to him, identical names occurred frequently among the Slavs and the "[Early] Slavs may not even have had their own common name to designate nationality. Such names often emerged only with time.".
• According to Czech historian Francis Dvornik (1893–1975), the Sporoi were probably the Spali mentioned by Jordanes (fl. 551) and Spalei mentioned by Pliny the Elder (fl. 77–79).
• According to the North American Society for Serbian Studies, rather than connecting the ethnonym to the poorly known Spali, it was more likely, as per the old view, a Greek rendering of the name Sorpoi/Sorboi – connected to the Serbs.
• According to British archaeologist Paul M. Barford, writing in 2001, it most likely derived from the Proto-Slavic word for "multitude".
• A connection has also been made with the Zeruiani mentioned by the 9th-century Bavarian Geographer. It states that the Zeruiani "which is so great a realm that from it, as their tradition relates, all the tribes of the Slavs are sprung and trace their origin" (Zeruiani tantum est reguum, utex eo cunctae gentes Sclavorum exortae sint, et originem, sicut affirmant, ducant). According to Polish historian Joachim Lelewel (1786–1861), the Zeruiani referred to the Serbs on the Dniester, while Zuireani referred to the Serbs on the Balkans. According to Šafárik, the Zeruiani were the White Serbs mentioned in De Administrando Imperio. According to American Slavicist Samuel Hazzard Cross, Zeruiani was obviously related to the modern terms Serb and Sorb. The Sorbs were mentioned separately (Iuxta illos est regio, que vocatur Surbi, in qua regione plures sunt, que habent civitates).

See also

• Slavs (ethnonym)

Further reading

• (French)