Who are the Slavs? - Citations and Sources

[Risto the Great]

Rist dobro vecer.To me i allways thought their language & alphabet was given to them by cyril & methodius.It's hard to realise anyother way.I allways thought that the russians used our cyrillic alphabet & orthodox religion.

The difference is that I don't care which direction the language went. It is more than conceivable in my mind that Old Macedonian was given to many races with the spread of the Cyrillic Alphabet. But some people seem to be in denial that there is any similarity with other slavic languages. There obviously is .... dobro vecer.

[George S.]

You reckon just accept the truth & that is it.Bite the bullet.

[George S.]

Risto i find i have to agree that it seems plausible that macedonia contributed to many peole's languages.One day i spoke to a slovakian.He spoke very clearly with hardly an accent.I got to speak to him about the 30 day calendar,chereseshna,listopathat etcetc he said they actually use & know that as well as russians That's the oldtime macedonian calendar.I even asked about how it's 7600 years going by macedonia old time calendar.

[Soldier of Macedon]

What truth George?

[George S.]

Also risto some people say that the slav influence came only in th 6th or 7 century,whilst others maintain that it is earlier than that from the caspian area.

[Risto the Great]

You reckon just accept the truth & that is it.Bite the bullet.

The truth is that Macedonians speak a slavic language. The truth is that Macedonians deserve a place under the sun because they have unique cultural, linguistic, historical and other traits. If we have to accept anything, it is that nations evolve. I will be stuffed if I can barely understand Shakespeare's English much less that of Olde English. Does that mean the modern English people are not worthy of being called English? Of course not.

[George S.]

of our slavic roots.
Risto you make some damn good points i suppose you can apply the same logic to us macedonians.I think there are people out there who will try & take advantage of our slavic roots & misrepresent us.You are right we desrve a place in the sun.It doesn't make us aably richer & wiserfor it.

[Soldier of Macedon]

It is more than conceivable in my mind that Old Macedonian was given to many races with the spread of the Cyrillic Alphabet.

Exactly. While many peoples that received Old Macedonian literature already spoke related languages, there were no doubt many who didn't speak such a language but adopted Old Macedonian (and/or related languages) with the spread of Christianity and the Cyrillic alphabet. This is mostly due to their belonging in (or proximity to) states and kingdoms where Slavic-speaking peoples were more dominant.

[Risto the Great]

Also risto some people say that the slav influence came only in th 6th or 7 century,whilst others maintain that it is earlier than that from the caspian area.

SoM is actually postulating that the language long before any 6th or 7th century influences (if at all) may well have been a lot closer to the Macedonian we speak today than many care to have researched or confirmed. But people take from this discussion what they will.

[Soldier of Macedon]

of our slavic roots.

A bre Gorgija, nobody is suggesting we have 'slavic roots'. Why do you keep going back to the same empty argument?

[George S.]

As a matter of fact i don't think i have heard anything bad about having slavic language.We are still macedonian as the blood is still there.It's only when people try through propaganda to say that you aren't macedonian because you speak a slavic language.
have to agree on that its registered around the world as macedonianIt's only our language that's slavic.The people are macedonian.
I have been trying to avoid that only to say it's only macedonian.
Some of the things i couldn't follow was the baltic/latvian origins of the slavs etc

[Soldier of Macedon]

It's only when people try through propaganda to say that you aren't macedonian because you speak a slavic language.

Very good point. So isn't it better that we, as a people, learn how to develop a strong counter-argument to such propaganda by basing it on truth and logic, rather than avoiding the term 'slav' altogether?

[Soldier of Macedon]

Our language is Macedonian too mate, it just belongs to a much larger pool of languages - like most other languages on this earth. No big deal.

[George S.]

So risto you mentione that language was macedonian i like the sound of that you have 100% agreement on that.
Oh also i would like to let som know i read up on theorigins on the thracians some say they were sumerians,some say one of the lost ten tribes of israel.I don't know if they were the original slavs who lived in the caspian area (indigenous) but when they came to the balkan area they had more than 20 tribes living there eventually most went to sweden a few remained.How true that is i don't know.Also i found out only a certain slav
came to the balkan peninsula in the sixth &7 th century.
I wanted to ask you som maybe it's kind of jumping the gun.Do you think that the common language that people are mentioning from old times is really slavic which then became macedonian.So if slavs existed prior to the macedonians.ie phrygians,brygians,veneti,eneti.
Then it's really talking of the same people.So that the slavs didn't just come into existence in the 6 or 7 century.
I'll be honest with you guys i didn't know the whole truth about the slavs.I may have known some & hard to accept but we have to accept it & not hide from it.THe more we know the better,knowledge is power.But if we become ignorant like little old me you end up jumping the gun because you don't know the full facts.So where's the humble pie. i'm hungry.So really we should just accept who we are & be proud of who we are.Not like our fake neighbours.WE Can then set a direction based on that.

[Soldier of Macedon]

Do you think that the common language that people are mentioning from old times is really slavic which then became macedonian.

The Balkan, Danubian and Baltic languages all stem from a common ancestor. The Danubian (Slavic) languages absorbed the Balkan languages from the 6th century onwards.

So if slavs existed prior to the macedonians.ie phrygians,brygians,veneti,eneti.

There was no Slavic identity in antiquity, neither in an ethnic or linguistic sense. The Macedonian identity has existed for much longer.