War, law & rule

slave

So many Slavs were captured and sold in the early Middle Ages that the Latin word for a Slav, sclavus, came to mean 'slave' in nearly every western European language; in Venice 'your slave' became the greeting ciao, which Venetian and Italian emigrants and Hemingway carried to Brazil, Spain, Prague and English.

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

From Byzantine Greek to Modern Greek

From Medieval Latin to Italian, Venetian, Italian

From Italian to Brazilian Portuguese

From Italian to English

From Italian to Spanish

From Italian to Czech

From Medieval Latin to German, Swedish

From Medieval Latin to Portuguese

From Medieval Latin to Middle Dutch, Dutch, Afrikaans

From Old French to French

560 CEOld Church Slavonic

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

slave

Weakest linkProbable

The road to English

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