At 12:46 AM 7/25/98 +0200, [email protected] wrote: >10/ I've found out two Sarbinowo in Poland, one near the Odra & Warta >confluence, the other on the Baltic sea near Koszalin ; a Sarbia again >on the Baltic sea. >Are these names connected with the Serbs/Sorbs ? >20/ Does Serbske Kamenice (in the Czech Rep.) (it seems that this city >has been renamed since, but I'm not sure) take is "Serbske" prefix out >of being in Czech part of Sorbian Lusace or in the ancient White-Serbia >? Does anyone know which present towns are on the territory of this >former White-Serbia? The name SXrb (pick your vowel for X) is an old one. I don't believe there is a consensus on the relation between the Serbs of White Serbia and the Sorbs or Lusatians. It is generally accepted, though, that the original Serbs (and Croats too) were north Caucasian tribes who moved west into what is now southern Poland certainly by the time of Christ. There is also a White Croatia in that area. "White" in many central Asian languages can also denote "west". Both Serbs and Croats began moving southward through the Carpathians and south of the Danube by the 4th century AD. Back to the name. In early Slavic the word Srb had as its only vowel a "vocalic r". As Slavic languages developed, this vocalic "r" resulted in different pronunciations and spellings in different Slavic languages. So you can get: Srb (as in Serbian/Croatian and Czech/Slovak), Serb (Russian, Ukrainian, Polish), Sorb (as in Sorbian). "y" and "u" are probably attempts to pronounce vocalic "r". Gordon McDaniel [email protected]