XI.] The Races of the Danube. 219 



doubtful, however, whether the striking contrast 

 really exists to supply a fit subject for moralising. 

 It is far more probable that the name Slav is con- 

 nected with slovo, "a word," and means the "dis- 

 tinctly-speaking people " as contrasted with the 

 Njemetch, or " talkers of gibberish," by which polite 

 epithet the Slavic races have always distinguished 

 the Germans. This naive assumption, that it is our- 

 selves alone who talk intelligibly, while foreigners 

 babble a meaningless jargon, has been a very com- 

 mon one with uninstructed people, and " Njemetch " 

 is not the only national appellative that bears witness 

 to its prevalence. The epithet " Welsh," which the 

 Germans apply to the Italians, the Dutch to the 

 Belgians, and the English to the Kymry of Western 

 Britain, has precisely the same meaning ; and so had 

 the word " barbarian," by which the ancient inhabitant 

 of Hellas described indiscriminately all people who 

 did not speak Greek.i 



It was about the middle of the fifth century that 

 the Slavonic race began to play a part in European 

 history. Advancing from what is now Southern 

 Russia, in the rear of the Tataric hordes of Attila, 

 various Slavic tribes overran the provinces of Moesia, 



1 The name "Wallach," by whicli the Germans designate the in- 

 habitants of Rumania, is tlie same word as " Welsh." 



