
[Middle English sclave, from Old French esclave, from Medieval Latin sclāvus, from Sclāvus, Slav (from the widespread enslavement of captured Slavs in the early Middle Ages). See Slav.]
WORD HISTORY The derivation of the word slave encapsulates a bit of European history and explains why the two words slaves and Slavs are so similar; they are, in fact, historically identical. The word slave first appears in English around 1290, spelled sclave. The spelling is based on Old French esclave from Medieval Latin sclavus, "Slav, slave," first recorded around 800. Sclavus comes from Byzantine Greek sklabos (pronounced sklävōs) "Slav," which appears around 580. Sklavos approximates the Slavs' own name for themselves, the Slověnci, surviving in English Slovene and Slovenian. The spelling of English slave, closer to its original Slavic form, first appears in English in 1538. Slavs became slaves around the beginning of the ninth century when the Holy Roman Empire tried to stabilize a German-Slav frontier. By the 12th century stabilization had given way to wars of expansion and extermination that did not end until the Poles crushed the Teutonic Knights at Grunwald in 1410. • As far as the Slavs' own self-designation goes, its meaning is, understandably, better than "slave"; it comes from the Indo-European root *kleu-, whose basic meaning is "to hear" and occurs in many derivatives meaning "renown, fame." The Slavs are thus "the famous people." Slavic names ending in -slav incorporate the same word, such as Czech Bohu-slav, "God's fame," Russian Msti-slav, "vengeful fame," and Polish Stani-slaw, "famous for withstanding (enemies)."
Definition: servant
Antonyms: free man, master
v
Definition: work very hard
Antonyms: be lazy, slack
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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, September 3, 2007

Dansk (Danish)
n. - slave, træl
v. intr. - slide og slæbe
idioms:
Nederlands (Dutch)
hard werken, slaaf, slavin
Français (French)
n. - esclave, (fig) esclave
v. intr. - travailler dur, trimer
idioms:
Deutsch (German)
n. - Sklave
v. - schuften
idioms:
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δούλος, σκλάβος, είλωτας, (Η/Υ) τερματικό
v. - δουλεύω σα σκλάβος/είλωτας
idioms:
Italiano (Italian)
sgobbare, schiavo
idioms:
Português (Portuguese)
n. - escravo (m), trabalhar duramente, servo (m)
v. - escravizar
idioms:
Русский (Russian)
раб, жертва (идеи), робот, раболепный прислужник, исполнительный механизм манипулятора, вспомогательное устройство, управляемый, исполнительный (механизм), работать до изнеможения, помыкать
idioms:
Español (Spanish)
n. - esclavo, siervo
v. intr. - trabajar duro, afanarse
idioms:
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - slav, slavinna, träl
v. - slava, träla
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
奴隶, 卑鄙的人, 附件, 拼命工作
idioms:
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 奴隸, 卑鄙的人, 附件
v. intr. - 拼命工作
idioms:
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 노예, ~에 열중하는 사람, 종속 장치
v. intr. - 노예처럼 뼈빠지게 일하다, 노예 매매를 하다
idioms:
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 奴隷, 奴隷のように働く人, とらわれている人, 虜
v. - 奴隷のように働く
idioms:
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) ألجاريه, ألامه, ألعبد, ألرقيق (فعل) يتجر بالرقيق, يكدح, يستعبد, يسترق
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - עבד, שפחה, משועבד
v. intr. - מכור, עבד קשה, עמל
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