In my study Veneti, naši davni predniki (Veneti, Our Remote Ancestors, Vienna 1985), I explained the meaning of many place names which are still used today all over Central Europe, using the Slovenian (Slavic) language as a basis. Since according to traditional history the Slavs never settled the majority of this territory, the question arose as to which people left behind these names. Through an interdisciplinary study it was possible to find out that the people in question were the Veneti, the bearers of the Urnfield culture (after 1200 BC) and of the Hallstatt culture (after 800 BC). They obviously spoke a language, which was close to the modern Slavic languages, particularly the Slovenian language.
The study, through which the Veneti have been given their individuality, showed clearly that the modern Slavic peoples are not an ethnic group, but only a linguistic one, and that they could not have originated from the supposed "ancient Slavs" whose homeland has been searched behind the Carpathian mountains and never found even unto today. Thus, the "ancient Slavs" never existed as an ethnic group, and they must be regarded as an academic and ideologic construct only.
This ascertainment is very important for the correct explanation of the meaning of place names. Still today, this explanation is appropriated in the first line by the linguists and Slavists. They took the question under their exclusive competence, and they interpreted the meaning of the place names on the basis of linguistics only. There may be adduced several linguistic works as example. I have in hand the very interesting work called Die Slawen in Griechenland (The Slavs in Greece), written by Max Vasmer, the well-known German linguist and Slavist. The work was published by the Academy of Science (Berlin, 1941). Nevertheless, the place names examined in this study were explained mostly in the sense of the morphological forms of the superficies, i.e., after their visual appearance.
This Vasmer's work is an interesting study. The author reveals a very great number of place names found over a territory which extends from the Epirus region of northwestern Greece and Macedonia into the Peloponnesus. On the basis of these names the author supposes the settlements of the Slavs, which should have been carried out during the early Middle Ages. At the same time, he decisively rejects the possibility, that the Slavs in Greece, which he supposedly individuated, have been an autochthonous people there.
However, the density of the names in question, which are of a Slavic nature, is so great, that there is no possibility that they could have been a legacy of the supposed sporadic Slav incursions and settlements in this territory. The names could only pertain to an autochthonous people, very probably to the Pelasgians, who in the period of the ancient Greeks settled the inside of the Greek peninsula. Thus, it is not about the Slavic names as such, but of the names pertaining to a language, which after my studies was also spoken by the ancient Illyrians, Thracians, Dacians, as well as by the Veneti and the (continental) Celts, etc.
I think this language must have been, more or less, a continuity of the Indo-European and pre-Indo-European, and it was spoken by ethnologically very different peoples. The vocabulary of the modern Slavic languages, in particular the archaic Slovenian, is very close to this ancient language. But this fact does not predispose the existence of a common ancestral people, in this case the existence of the "ancient Slavs".
Explanation of Names
Indeed, Max Vasmer worked diligently collecting a great number of names in Greece which he considered to be of Slavic origin. In several cases his explanations are senseful and instructive. For example, I cite Provlakas, the name of the one-time Xerxes canal (Athos). Even today this name still says that at one time the ships were drawing through the canal (cf. pro-vleci, in Slav languages: draw through). A similar case is represented by the name Prevesa (preveza, Überfahrt, crossing) found at the sea strait in Aetolia. The name Volos is explained as "golos" (from gol, nude, i.e., an area with very scarce vegetation) which is a senseful explanation, and so on.
However, a problem of incorrect understanding arises in cases of place names which Max Vasmer interprets only in a linguistical way, i.e., by the meaning of an apparently closely related Slav etymon. For example, the name Avarikos (p. 10) should derive from Avorne, Ahorn-ort (in Slavic languages: javor) meaning a maple tree. In fact, it can only be explained with aur (sun) > jaur, i.e., a sunny site. It is only a coincidence, that the name is so similar to that of the maple tree. - The name Berstia (p. 146) does not derive from berst, in Slovenian: brest (Ulme, elm). It is certainly a form of the Indo-European *bhers (to rise sheerly). - The name Varen (cf. Varna, in Bulgaria, p. 234) certainly does not derive from vrana (Krähe, crow). It can be explained sensefully only through the Slovenian "v' ravnah" (in the plains).
Further on, Orehovo (p. 96) is not a Nußort (a place of nut trees), but evidently connected with "vrh" (summit, top). - The name Visentekon (p. 23) certainly is not connected with "višnja" (Kirsche, in fact Weichselkirsche, i.e., marasca ), but it derives from "visok, višji" (high, higher). The explaining of the name Misina (p. 94) as Mäuserort (from miš, Maus, mouse) is certainly wrong. I put near the name of Meißen - Mišin and its possible meaning, connected with its position in the valley chiselled in by the Elbe River. Thus, from meißeln (chisel). The name Svina (p. 172) Vasmer explained as Schweineort (a site of pigs). But it derives very probably from "zviti" (to fold) and means very possibly a curved crest . . .
Linguists are making a great mistake when they imagine that the nomenclature is only a linguistic question. Also the most important Slovenian linguist, France Bezlaj, in spite of his great knowledge, provided several wrong explanations concerning the meaning of the hydronyms and toponyms. I adduce an example, of which I was advised by Vojko Rutar (Dobrovo, Slovenia).
It is about the name of the village Vipolže (close to Dobrovo), the meaning of which Bezlaj explains with the help of the Russian: vypolzkovskije žiteli, i.e., "freemen", and he states: »It is about the ancient-Slav dialectal juridical term, which was brought to us (i.e., in Slovenia) by the same migration wave, which formed the nucleus of Novgorod Russia« (Fr. Bezlaj, Eseji... p. 104). But it is certainly that Fr. Bezlaj never saw the geographical position of Vipolže, a village situated on an incline which arises from the plain. The meaning "vy polje" (out of the plain, field), in the older form "vy poljane" pl. (j > ž). The supposed migration wave might have occurred, but the name Vipolže certainly is not a proof of it.
An interdisciplinary approach is needed
The existence of a one-time ethnic group in a certain territory cannot be individuated only on the basis of the preserved place names. For this purpose an interdisiplinary method must be used.
So when I, for the first time, encountered in Swiss and other areas of Central Europe a multitude of place names, the meaning of which could have been clearly explained on the basis of the Slovenian language, I did not venture to say that one time this territory was populated by the Slovenians or Slavs. From the interdisciplinary point of view, I searched to individuate the ethnic appurtenances of the people who left behind the aforesaid names.
So, I found out the presence of the linden as the tree of life in the villages (like in Slovenia), and not the oak, the tree of life of the Celts and Germans. In the preserved social structure there were no traces of the Celtic clan or German kinship, but only the tradition of the village community. This is the same community which has been preserved by the Slovenians and the other peoples of Central Europe, but not by other Slavs, the social organization of which was the great family (zadruga, rod).
The archaeological studies and finds showed that this population was the successor to the bearers of the Urnfield (after 1200 BC) and Halstatt cultures (ca. 800 – 400 BC), which many sholars like, G. Devoto, individuated as the ancient Veneti. Their statement was confirmed by many names based upon Venet- or Wend- which still today are to be found in Tyrol, Switzerland, Germany, etc. All these elements did not bear witness to the presence of the »ancient Slavs«, as a linguist would have concluded on the basis of the Slovenian or Slavic names preserved in this territory.
It was clear that these people were of an autonomous ethnicon whose name was Veneti (ancient). I think they were clearly individuated as the bearers of the Urnfield and of the Hallstatt cultures for the first time. Of course, scholars had already encountered this people. But because of the names they would have had to have called them »Slavs«. They could not have imagined them as such, and so in the scientific literature the Veneti appear only as »bearers« (of Urnfield and Hallstatt cultures). In contrast to this, the later Celts, the bearers of the La Téne culture (ca. 400 – 15 BC), are called by their very name without any problem.
The very remote heritage
On the basis of the aforesaid facts, it is clear that the question of language must be considered apart from the question of ethnicity. To illustrate, I would like to adduce some »Slovenian« names, which one can still encounter in Northern Africa to this day.
So, we find in Morocco the city called Zagora, which in Slovenian means »beyond the mountains«. Indeed, this city is found beyond the Atlas mountain ridge. In Algeria, we encounter the city Brèzina, in Slovenian meaning a »gentle incline of the mountain«. It really has just such a position. South of Tripoli, in Libya, the site Garian (717 m) is found at the edge of a plateau. The corresponding Slovenian name (a > o) is Gorjane, a site on a higher position. In the great desert, a lot of names with the root of Bir appear, like Bir Tarsin, Bir Iar . . . In Slovenian the word »vir« (b > v, betatism) actually means a 'source'.
The famous oasis between Libya and Egypt is called Siwa, and it expresses the same meaning like in Slovenian »živa« for a source of fresh water. Indeed, the oasis is full of such sources. Near the Suez canal we find the name Gharib (1751 m), in Slovenian »hrib« means a middle high mountain. The name Tabor in Palestine is equal to many Slovenian names, which mean a »fortress on a higher place«. The name is also found in Ethiopia. There, we encounter among other names also Gara Mullata (3381 m). In Slovenian »gora« (a > o) means mountain, and the dialectal word »mulast« means nude. Etc, etc.
In the sense of the method used until now by the linguists and Slavists, one must have concluded, that one-time the territory of Northern Africa was populated by Slovenians, too. No one can imagine this, and he is right. But the »Slovenian« names found there require an explication.
The only connection I find between North Africa and Slovenia is as follows. In pre-Indo-European times during the mesolithic period, the same shepherd cultures extended from North Africa over to Europe up to the Ural mountains and over. In this period, in Central Europe the agriculture of Band ceramics (ca. 4200 – before 2000 BC) arose. It was based on the matriarchate. The incursions from the east ca. 2000 BC brought the so-called Indo-Europeanization of Europe based on the patriarchate, in which the Band Ceramic people survived only as a substrate. From this substrate, as one can conclude, the culture of Lusatia (after 1500 BC) arose followed by the Urnfield culture (after 1200 BC), in which the people of the Veneti were formed.
More elements can be adduced as proof of the cultural heritage, which followed from the Band Ceramics until the Urnfield culture and its Venetic people. For example, the equipartite position of the wife in the social structure of the Veneti, which must be considered a heritage of the ancient matriarchate. Such an equipartite position was characteristic also for the ancient family tradition of the Slovenians, that I consider to be the heirs of the Veneti. In this way, the existence of »Slovenian« names in Northern Africa can be explained. Anyway, their original Slovenian forms certainly present a significant surprise today!
Selected Bibliography:
Max Vasmer: Die Slaven in Griechenland, Berlin 1941
France Bezlaj: Slovenska vodna imena / Slovenian Water Names /, Lublana I (1956), II (1961)
France Bezlaj: Eseji o slovenskem jeziku / Essays about the Slovenian Language /, Lublana 1967
Jožko Šavli: Imena v Afriki / Names in Africa /, in: V nova slovenska obzorja z Veneti v Evropi 2000, Tretji venetski zbornik, Vienna 2000, p. 50 ff.
Jožko Šavli: Veneti in vprašanje podstati / Veneti and the substrate Question /, in: Veneti in Etruščani, Drugi venetski zbornik, Vienna 1995, p. 85 ff. (based on the Pokorny's substrate studies)
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Last Updated: August 14, 2004
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