sclavus

See also: Sclavus

Latin

Medieval Latin, from Late Latin Sclavus (“Slav”), from Byzantine Greek Σκλάβος (Sklábos), from Proto-Slavic *slověninъ, because Slavs were often forced into slavery in the Middle Ages.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4].

sclavus m (genitive sclavī); second declension

Eastern Romance:
- Aromanian: shcljau, shcljeauã
- Romanian: șcheau, șchiau
Italian: schiavo, stiavo
Sardinian: isciabu, isciau, isclavu, iscrau, iscravu, sciau
Sicilian: schiavu
Friulian: sclâf, sclâv
Venetian: sciavo, s-ciao
- → Italian: ciao (see there for further descendants)
→ Albanian: shqa (earlier borrowing), skllav (later borrowing)
→ Aromanian: sclav, sclavu
→ Asturian: esclavu
→ Breton: sklav
→ Catalan: esclau
→ English: slave

→ Galician: escravo
→ German: Sklave
→ Manx: sleab
→ Middle Dutch: slave
- Dutch: slaaf
  - Afrikaans: slaaf
  - Negerhollands: slaav
  - → Caribbean Javanese: slaf
  - → Sranan Tongo: srafu
→ Middle French: sclave
- French: esclave
  - Haitian Creole: esklav
- → English: slave
→ Middle High German: sklafe, sklave
- German: Sklave, Sclave, Sklav, Slav, Slave, Slaf, Slafe, Schlav, Schlave, Schlaff, Schlaffe
  - → Danish: slave
  - → Norwegian: slave
→ Occitan: esclau
→ Portuguese: escravo
→ Romanian: sclav
→ Scots: sclave
→ Spanish: esclavo
→ Yiddish: שקלאַף (shklaf)

sclavus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

^ “sclavus”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
^ “sclavus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “sclavus”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named OED