The Lord’s Prayer “Our Father” indicates Slovenians are West Slavs
Jandáček, Petr
Paper given at the Fifth International Topical Conference (2007)
Abstract
The currently held opinion of the political and academic communities is that Slovenians are South (Yugo) Slavs. While this concept is expedient and based on Slovenian proximity to, and recent communal history with and in the Federation of Yugoslavia, nuances of the “Lord’s Prayer” (Our Father) {Očenaš} poignantly reveal that Slovenians are in fact West Slavs, sharing profound similarities with Polabians and other North Western Wends since the Ninth Century. This is especially evident in their terms for Father, Monarch, Evil, Bread, and Will.
About the year 862 Cyril and Methodius began to plan their mission to the Slavic peoples in Moravia. Cyril generated a Glagolithic alphabet and translated scripture and prayers into a “Common Slavic Language”. Disciples of Methodius and Cyril “fine tuned” the Lord’s Prayer to the needs of local Slavic populations. One could argue that at that time all the Slavs spoke a single albeit highly variable tongue. One could also ague that Slavic languages remained highly variable, pliable, “pluralistic” and “forgiving of local differences”. Subsequently, to this day a Russian from Vladivostok (an Easternmost Slav) can understands the pronunciation of every last numeral (from one to ten) as uttered by the Westernmost Slovenian or “Polabian” Wend (Slav).
The Lord’s Prayer “Our Father” indicates Slovenians are West Slavs
Jandáček, Petr
Paper given at the Fifth International Topical Conference (2007)
Abstract
The currently held opinion of the political and academic communities is that Slovenians are South (Yugo) Slavs. While this concept is expedient and based on Slovenian proximity to, and recent communal history with and in the Federation of Yugoslavia, nuances of the “Lord’s Prayer” (Our Father) {Očenaš} poignantly reveal that Slovenians are in fact West Slavs, sharing profound similarities with Polabians and other North Western Wends since the Ninth Century. This is especially evident in their terms for Father, Monarch, Evil, Bread, and Will.
About the year 862 Cyril and Methodius began to plan their mission to the Slavic peoples in Moravia. Cyril generated
a Glagolithic alphabet and translated scripture and prayers into a “Common Slavic Language”. Disciples of Methodius and Cyril “fine tuned” the Lord’s Prayer to the needs of local Slavic populations. One could argue that at that time all the Slavs spoke a single albeit highly variable tongue. One could also ague that Slavic languages remained highly variable, pliable, “pluralistic” and “forgiving of local differences”. Subsequently, to this day a Russian from Vladivostok (an Easternmost Slav) can understands the pronunciation of every last numeral (from one to ten) as uttered by the Westernmost Slovenian or “Polabian” Wend (Slav).
Click here to read this article from Fifth International Topical Conference
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