Ethnogenesis of the Slovaks from the Linguistic Aspect

Abstract

The border of some old Proto-Slavic dialect differences (southwest Slovak and northeast Slovak regions) runs through the linguistic territory of today's Slovakia. It may reflect an older developmental state, such as the separation of three basic macro-areas, i.e. the division into west Slovak, central Slovak and east Slovak regions. The arrival of the ancestors of today's Slovaks to the territory of Slovakia took place in two streams. One of them headed along the eastern side of the Carpathian arc through Moldavia to the lower Danube (even before the middle of the 6th century), some probably also headed to eastern Slovakia. The second onslaught of Slavs into Central Europe headed from the northeast through Transcarpathia to the Elbe and Sála, side streams occupied Bohemia, Moravia and western Slovakia. Historical monuments contain only sporadic data on the life of the ancestors of today's Slovaks in the Carpathian-Danubian basin from the pre-Great Moravian period. Archaeological finds and the oldest layer of Pan-Slavic vocabulary indicate the location of the area inside, not on the edge of, Slavic territory.