Theories on the origin of the Serbs

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Serbs are a South Slavic people, living mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The ethnonym Serbs possibly has a different root. There are several theories about the origin of the Serb people, which could be roughly divided into Slavic theory and non-Slavic theories. Among the non-Slavic theories, most widely accepted is the Iranian theory[citation needed], since the first mention of a tribe called Serboi in history locates them in the northern Caucasus among the Iranian peoples.

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[edit] The Iranian theory of the origin of Serb people

"Serbi" located near the mouth of the Volga, based on Greek literary sources, in a map printed in LONDON, ca 1770
"Serbi" located near the mouth of the Volga, based on Greek literary sources, in a map printed in LONDON, ca 1770

The original Serboi were probably Sarmatian (Iranian) tribe,(but no hard evidence for this claims) who lived in Eastern Europe, near (Sarmatia Asiatica), to the north of the Caucasus. The earliest historical records about these Sarmatian Serboi dates from the 1st century, in the works of the historian Tacitus (ca. 50 AD) and geographer Pliny (Plinius) (69-75 AD).

In the fourth century,after Huns movement to west these Sarmatian Serboi,together with Alans, moved to Central Europe, and were found dwelling near the Elbe, in a region designated as White Serbia, in what is now Saxony (eastern Germany) and western Poland. The Sarmatian Serbs, it is argued, intermarried with the indigenous Slavs of the region, adopted their language, and transferred their name to the Slavs. Since the white colour was designation for the west, name White Serbia actually could mean 'Western Serbia'. But no script or other evidence for this things actually happened !

Byzantine sources report that part of the Serbs (already a Slavic people by that time) then migrated southward in the seventh century and eventually settled in the lands that now make up southern Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. In this region, Serbs mixed with other Slavic tribes (which settled there in the sixth century) and with descendants of indigenous peoples of the Balkans(romanized illyrians).

Rival chiefs, or župani, vied for control of the Serbs for five centuries after the migration. Župan Vlastimir formed a Serbian principality under the Byzantines around 850, and the Serbs soon converted to Christianity. The Serbs had two political centers in the eleventh century: Zeta, in the mountains of present-day Montenegro, and Raška, located in modern southwestern Serbia.

Another part of the Serbs did not migrate southwards, but remained in the Elbe region. Descendants of these Serbs are the present day Lusatian Serbs/Sorbs, who still live in the Lusatia (Lužica, Lausitz) region of eastern Germany.

It is possible that the proto-Serbs in Sarmatia were similar to other Sarmatian/Iranian peoples on the northern Caucasus, such as the Alans, and spoke an Indo-European Iranian language similar to present-day Ossetian. At some point in the history of the Serbs, this Old Serb language stood side by side with the Slavic language in White Serbia (mentioned by the Byzantine emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus), and likely even in the first 300 years leading up to the formation of the Serb state in the Balkans in the 9th century. Even to this day, the Serbian language has at least a third as many words in its vocabulary than other Slavic languages. This is because of the influence of Old Serb and Illyrian as well as Turkish on the Slavic language spoken by the Serbs today.

What was the origin of the Sarmatian Serboi? Since the modern Ossetian language derived from ancient ALANIAN, we can search for the origin of Sarmatians if we compare relationships between languages of Iranian stock. The Ossetian language is a member of Eastern Iranian branch of Iranian languages, along with Pashtun, Yaghnobi and languages of the Pamir. The original homeland of the Sarmatians was probably in the region where these eastern Iranian languages are spoken today, somewhere between Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan.

The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, in his Book Of Ceremonies, calls the Croats and Serbs "Krevatas and Sarban"[citation needed], who were located between Alania and Tsanaria. Ṣārbān is also the name of a Pashtun tribe in Afghanistan, who are believed to be - at least in part - of Scythian descent or According to legend,Pashtun people, ethnic Afghans traditionally claim descent from the Lost Tribes.,But the pashtun tribe Sarbans are descendants of Sarban, who was one of the sons of Qais Abdur Rashid (also known as Pathan), the common ancestor of the Pashtun people.Qais Abdur Rashid is a legendary progenitor of the Pashtun people, thought, among Pashtuns, to be the first Pashtun who traveled to Mecca and Madina during the early days of Islam.

Qais Abdur Rashid was born as Pehtan Qais in Southern Afghanistan. Upon hearing about the advent of Islam, he was sent by his tribe to Arabia. He met Muhammad and embraced Islam, and was named Abdur Rashid by him.Qais Abdur Rashid died leaving three sons: Sarban, Baitan and Ghourghusht. From these three sons, as well as Karlan. we get the majority of Pashtun tribes known today. But in that time balkan serbs have a state in balkan,and also word sarban have no meaning in serbian lenguage today!!!

Today it is suggested that the modern Serbs and Croats were Slavs living in modern Poland who assimilated the upper-class of the migrating Sarmatian tribes, who subsequently lent their names (Hrvat/Croat and Srb/Serb).[citation needed] Early in Polish history, the Polish nobility claimed to be direct descendants of the historic Sarmatian people. White Serbia and White Croatia, the original homelands of the Serb and Croat peoples before their migration to the Balkans, were located, respectively, in the territories of modern Poland, Bohemia, and eastern Germany (see Sorbs). This suggests an immediate link between the two Sarmatian-origin theories, but fails to provide any confirmation.

Addition mess in ancient scripts,sheer wrong pronounce of words and voices in diferent languages!!! and we have many terms like as serboi,sarban,or serbi in map printed "ca"1770 in LONDON,but hystoricaly is serboi in that map. in serbian lenguage,serb are ("SRBI")!!! also "lusiatian sorbs" (in Deutsch),called themselves (serbi) with short vowel(e),NOT SORBS.

[edit] Alarodian theory

Some theories dismisses the Iranian theory because it is based solely on the fact that the area where the Serboi ethnonym is first mentioned (near the Sea of Azov) was home to the Iranian Sarmatians, and this led historians to falsely jump to the conclusion that the Serboi themselves were also Iranian. Mandić notes that Pliny himself does not state that the Serboi are of Iranian stock. If the Serbs were an Indo-Iranian people, Pliny probably would have said so. Furthermore, the non-Slavic substrate in modern Serbian is not Iranian.

In the Phrygia during Roman rule, there was a city called Gordoserbon, which was assumed to derive from "city of the Serbs", gord being the Slavic word for city. However, it seems unlikely the Latin-speaking Romans would use the Slavic word for city to name one of their cities.Gordias (or Gordius) was a royal name in the mythic prehistory of Phrygia. In the mythological age, kings of Phrygia were alternately named Gordias and Midas. Mandić proposes that Gordoserbon actually gets its name from the city of Gordium, the capital of Phrygia, which he claims is the ancient homeland of the Serbs. Gordium was situated near the ancient Lydian city of Sardis. Sardis was the capital of Lydia, an ancient empire located in present day Turkey. The Lydians spoke an Anatolian language.

In records from the year 680 in Bithynia,[Byzantine Empire] the city of Gordoservon (Gordoserbon) is mentioned. The name is derived from the Serbs resettled in Asia Minor by Byzantine Emperor Constans II, who came from the areas around river Vardar. Isidor, the Episcop of Gordoservon is mentioned in 680/681, and the fact that this town was an Episcopal Center gives ground to the thesis that it had a large Serbian population. Around year 1200 this city is mentioned as Servochoria (Serbian Habitation).

The Alarodian languages include two long extinct languages, the Hurrian language and the Urartian language. The Hurrian language is believed to have had a strong influence on some of the Anatolian languages, notably the Hittite language, and it is believed that Hurrians were actually not indigenous there, but were new arrivals who assimilated an earlier people who called themselves the Subar-tu. The language of these Subar-tu, whose name is not recorded, is called Subarian by linguists today, and it is believed that there was a Subarian substratum in the Hurrian language. Sumerian records mention the Subartu. Much later, Persian records mention the Sabarda, and the ancient Greek historian Herodotus mentions the Sabir in the same area, although it is not clear what, if any, connection the Sabir/Sabarda have to the Subar-tu, or if the similar-sounding names are just coincidental. According to [Mandić], the Serbs get their name from those ancient Subartu. But this is speculation,confirmation or proof of this do not exist.

[edit] Traces and possible migrations of Serbs

Serb lands in the 9th century, mostly according to De Administrando Imperio
Serb lands in the 9th century, mostly according to De Administrando Imperio

The Serbs were mentioned as Serboi by Pliny the Younger in his Geographica in the first century AD (69-75) as living on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. In the 5th century, Herodotus writes in his Persian Wars that Serbs (Serboi, Sirboi) live behind the Caucasus, near the hinterland of the Black Sea. In the fourth century the Carpathians are mentioned as Montes Serrorum (Serb mountains?) by the Roman emperor Licinius.

In the Caucasus, the homeland of the Sarmatian Serbs, they left their traces around the river Volga (Araxes in Greek). In modern Georgian, that river is called "Rashki". This name was used by Balkan Serbs as a name for their first state and is found wherever the name Serb is found in clusters indicating settlements. It is often used to designate hydronyms and likely meant 'river' or 'water' in Old Serb.

The Serbs possibly migrated in two directions from the Caucasus, northwest and northeast. Those who went northwest became overlords of the Slavs. There they established a mighty empire and became slavicized. Konstantine Porfirogenitus called this "White Serbia". Their descendants are known as Lusatian Serbs today and despite Germanization, a few thousand still remain on the territory of former East Germany. These we can also call 'White Serbs'.

There is a theory that the other branch of Sarmatian Serbs maybe moved northeast to the southern base of the Urals, and settled there for a time. We can call them 'Volga Serbs'. They possibly moved eastwards, deep into Siberia, leaving traces in the names towns along the coast of the Sea of Japan. They faded out with the onslaught from the Mongols. These we can call 'Siberian Serbs'. It is even possible that Siberia was named after this Old Serb tribe.

The White Serbs were probably completely Slavicized by the 6th century. Their Slavicized descendants are today's Lusatian Sorbs. One branch of these White Serbs have left White Serbia, and according to Porfirogenitus, came to the Balkans (7th century), invited by Heracleus, defeated the Avars and were given Macedonia to inhabit. There they took the already settled Slavs (who began arriving in the 5th and 6th centuries) under their control and mixed with them to form the modern Serb nation.

These Slavs, who came before the Serbs, had already assimilated the Illyrians, who were an Indo-European people. Many historians agree that the old Serbs were not Slavs, but a non-Slavic caste that ruled over the Slavs, though the Serbs who entered the Balkans in the 7th century, were mainly Slavs who had adopted the Serbian name.

[edit] Relation with Sorbs

 The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.(2008)
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While Ukrainians and krajischniks (their names coming from Slavic word for "borderland") or Slovaks and Slovenes (obvious variations of "Slavs") need not be related, Serbs and Sorbs may well be. Some have taken this to the extreme, creating theories that link Serbs with Sarmatians, Sirmium, Serbona, Siberia and so on. Such theories do, however, tend to represent something of a fringe view.

The obvious similarities in their names leads some to conclude that Serbs and Sorbs are related peoples. Indeed, in the Serbian language Sorbs are called Lužički Srbi (Serbs of Lusatia) some historians call Sorbs White Serbs (if dichotomy exists Serbs are called "Red Serbs"; during The Great Migration Croats had a similar white-red dichotomy).

Exactly what the relations are between Serbs and Sorbs is not certain:

  1. Some believe that Serbs came to the Balkans from Sorbia.
  2. Some believe that Serbs came to the Balkans and Sorbs to Sorbia from a joint ancient fatherland. Where this fatherland might be is also uncertain.
  3. Some believe that Serbs and Sorbs were one people at sometime but had separated before they moved to Serbia/Sorbia.
  4. If we accept the claim that all Slavs have called themselves Serbs, then Serbs and Sorbs may not have anything more in common than any other two Slavic peoples.

Regardless of which is correct, the Serbs and Sorbs of today are very different peoples, with different customs, traditions and religions.



[edit] References

 The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.
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[edit] See also