Slovenia
/sloʊˈviːniə/noun
A country in Central Europe, on the Adriatic Sea.
Did you know?Slovenia’s name is built on the ethnonym Slovene/Slav, ultimately linked to a Proto-Slavic word for “people who speak the same language,” contrasting with the old Slavic word for foreigners, *němьcь, literally “the mute ones.”
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Slavic
PSl
*Slověninъ
“A Slavic person; one of the people speaking the same language”
Medieval Latin
Latin
Sclauonia / Slavonia
“Land of the Slavs; a Slavic region name”
Late Medieval / Early Modern
Various European languages
Slovenia
“A geographic and ethnic name for the Slovene lands”
19th Century
English
Slovenia
“The name of the Slovene nation and its territory”
Modern English
English
Slovenia
“The sovereign state in Central Europe”