Slovaks

The term "Slovak" is first mentioned (as a person named Slovak) in a written source on September 7, 1444. The population of Great Moravia , the ancestors of the Slovaks, designated a number of sources as lat. sclavi or st. wordsѣ (probably the self-designation of the population of Great Moravia). The term sclavi for a Slavic population (Slovaks, Slovenes, Slavons, or new Slavic colonists) appeared in the Latin-language sources of Hungary no later than the 12th century. In the XI-XIV centuries, in the neighboring countries of Hungary, the special name of the Slovaks probably did not exist. In XIII century sources, sclavi are mentioned as residents of northern Hungary along with Hungarians and Germans. So, the letter of King Andras II of 1233 says: "... Whether they are Hungarians or sclavi , or Germans, let them receive a quarter of a quarter of tithes." In 1381, the Slavic population of the city of Zilina, designated as sclavi in the document, complained to Laiosh I of the oppression by the Germans. Until the 15th century, Slovaks supposedly called themselves “Slovenes” (“Slovenian, Slovenian, Slovenian”). The modern term "Slovak" ( Slovak. Slovák ) appeared in the 15th century in the Czech Republic, presumably among the University of Prague ^[5] .

V — IX centuries

The immediate Slavic ancestors of the Slovaks have lived (according to the prevailing opinion) at least since the great migration of peoples (from about 500 CE) in the region of present-day Slovakia . Historians do not have a single opinion on the ancestral home of the ancestors of the Slovak people: according to one opinion, the settlement of the present Slovakia by the Slavs went in two waves - from the north and from the south; according to another, the area of ​​their resettlement on the eve of the great resettlement already captured the Carpathian region (according to Trubachev or according to the annals of Nestor ). From the point of view of Slovak linguists, the first phase of the development of the proto-Slavic foundations of the Slovak language began simultaneously with the arrival of the Slavs .

In the 7th century, the ancestors of the Slovaks were an integral part of the core population of the Samo state. According to archaeological finds, a continuity is partially traced between finds from the times of the state of Samo and later finds of the 8th - 9th centuries .

In the VIII century, the ancestors of the Slovaks founded the Principality of Nitran , which in 833 became an integral part of the Great Moravian Empire . The ancestors of the Slovaks thus formed, together with the ancestors of the Czechs, the core of the population of Great Moravia . According to some Slavists , the Slovak language directly developed from the Pre-Slavic . According to the prevailing opinion of Slovak linguists, the second phase of the development of the pro-Slavic basis of the Slovak language began in the VIII century .

An important event of the 9th century was the Slavic mission of two brothers from Thessaloniki , Constantine (Cyril) and Methodius to Great Moravia ( 863 - 864 ). Konstantin specially developed the first Slavic alphabet for the mission - the verb , introduced the symbol of the Byzantine double sharp (which is now the Slovak state emblem ), chose the so-called Old Slavonic language for his Moravian mission and introduced the first translations of liturgical and biblical texts into Old Slavonic already prepared with Methodius . The Old Slavonic language absorbed many elements from the West Slavic dialects during the Moravian mission. Thus, the then version of the glagolitic word also contains the letter (dz), which was then used only in dialects in the region of today's Slovakia . On the other hand, in the modern Slovak language there are many religious concepts (conscience, faith, soul, Creator, pray, Holy Spirit, etc.) derived from Old Slavonic.

During the mission in Moravia, the brothers translated the entire Bible into the Old Slavonic language , as well as the code of laws, liturgical texts and more. Thanks to this mission, they are considered the founders of (all) Slavic literature. In March 868, the Old Slavic language was even accepted by the pope as the fourth liturgical language in the Western church along with Latin , Greek and Hebrew , which no pope repeated until the 20th century for another language. Provided with local elements, Old Slavonic was used in Great Moravia along with Latin , (at least), for official and religious purposes. The cultural form of the local language was used in Great Moravia by the court and educated people.

X-XV centuries

At the beginning of the X century, the invasion of the Magyar tribes into modern southern Slovakia put an end to the Great Moravian Empire . Slovakia entered the X - XI centuries , and the northern regions only in the XIV century , into the Hungarian kingdom. As part of the Kingdom of Hungary , autonomy of the Nitran Principality existed even before the 12th century . The tale of bygone years describes the Slavs in Slovakia as an independent people on the middle Danube of the 11th century . The ruler of the Nitran principality Emmerich is designated as the prince of Sklavonia ("dux Sclavoniae") ( 1029 ). The texts distinguish from the XI century within the Hungarian kingdom actually Hungary, Slovakia and Transylvania. A group of Slavists (cf. above) believes that the pre-Slavic linguistic unity fell apart only in the X century . According to the prevailing opinion of Slovak linguists, the Slovak language began to develop from the 10th century as an independent language.

In the Middle Ages , at least until the Late Middle Ages, and in places much later, Slovaks also lived in present-day Hungary along with the Magyars and in southeastern Moravia (the so-called Moravian Slovakia ; until the Late Middle Ages this region partly belonged to Hungary ), in northwestern Romania , as well as in Austria and Ukraine .

Most Slovaks belong to the Roman Catholic Church .

In the XVI - XVII centuries, part of the Slovaks became Lutherans (10.8%). A small part (0.64% ^[6] ) belongs to the Orthodox Church of the Czech lands and Slovakia .

One of the reasons for the collapse of Czechoslovakia was the attitude of Slovaks and Czechs towards religion. Slovaks are mostly religious, and they declare this publicly. The Czechs , on the contrary, often do not want to report on their attitude to religion, and a significant part of the population from 30 to 40% are non-religious (and this figure was lower under the communist government).

Slovaks in Serbia have their own minority council. The green party (of a national minority) gained 0.7% and won 1st place in the Serbian parliament. Slovaks in Serbia are Protestants. Slovaks make up the majority in the Bachki Petrovac community - 65.4%. They are also the largest ethnic group in the Kovacitsa community - 41.85%. Their number is also great in the Bach community, where Slovaks are about 20% of the total population. In addition to them, many Slovaks also live in Novi Sad (6393), Stara Pazov (5212) and Bachka Palanca (5047).

• Grazianskaya N. N. Slovaks: On the problems of ethnocultural history / Otv. ed. dr. Sciences M.S. Kashuba; Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. N. N. Miklouho-Maclay RAS . - M .: IEA RAS, 1994 .-- 224 p. - 300 copies. - ISBN 5-201-00856-9 . (region)