What language is most closely related to Polish?
Table of Contents
The most similar ones are Czech and Slovak plus Silesian, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian and Kashubian if languages of ethnic minorities without separated countries count. The others are Ukrainian, Belarussian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and other Slavic languages. Ukrainian is very similar to Polish.
Czech, Polish, and Slovak are all members of the West Slavic group – a bunch of very closely related languages. Much like the Scandinavian languages, they have had a long history of developing together and influencing each other.
What is the etymology of the word Slav?
Slav (n.) late 14c., Sclave, from Medieval Latin Sclavus (c. 800), from Byzantine Greek Sklabos (c. 580), from Old Church Slavonic Sloveninu “a Slav,” probably related to slovo “word, speech,” which suggests the name originally identified a member of a speech community (compare Old Church Slavonic Nemici “Germans,” related…
How did the Slavic countries get their names?
Even today some of the Slavic countries retain the names with the original root “slav”. This alone is proof enough that the name was invented by the people that lived in the region, instead of being borrowed from some other language. One of the more recent theories is that this name derives from a compound “pravo-slavny”.
How is Czech different from other Slavic languages?
Czech is distinguished from other West Slavic languages by a more-restricted distinction between “hard” and “soft” consonants (see Phonology below). The Bible of Kralice was the first complete translation of the Bible into the Czech language from the original languages. Its six volumes were first published between 1579 and 1593.
What does “Pravo-Slavny” mean?
One of the more recent theories is that this name derives from a compound “pravo-slavny”. A great number of traditional Slavic names that end with “slav” give credence to it. In this case, the word will mean “worshipper”.