Re:A Man Who Coined the Word "Robot" Defends Himself
by int_19h on Monday January 22, 2024 @04:27PM
(#39095701)
It's not just the pirates, and not just Balkans, but also e.g. the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Crusades
As for why there's a "k" there - Greeks would naturally adapt any foreign word to the phonotactics of their language, which does not have "σλ" as a valid syllable onset, but does have "σκλ".
Re:A Man Who Coined the Word "Robot" Defends Himself
by jefftk on Monday January 22, 2024 @03:20PM
(#39094862)
> No such thing as Sclavic people, never was.
Sounds like there was to the Greeks:
Slav (n.) "one of the people who inhabit most of Eastern Europe," late 14c., Sclave, from Medieval Latin Sclavus (c. 800), from Byzantine Greek Sklabos (c. 580), from a shortening of Proto-Slavic sloveninu "a Slav"* -- https://www.etymonline.com/word/Slav
Nevertheless, I'm not sure if there is any reflection on the fact that mediterranean pirates (and nomadic tribes further east) plundered Balkans for captives and southwestern europeans then bought them. And that, perhaps, was a suboptimal way to behave.