Keeping with the themes from the prior article, note that the “Scientific Magazine of the Ossoliński Public Library” (Czasopism Naukowy Księgozbioru Publicznego imienia Ossolińskich) has the following statement in an article by the priest Franciszek Siarczyński from the magazine’s inaugural issue in 1828 “An Essay As to Whether Suavs or Suovs the Proper Name [of the Suavs] Is and Which Such Name Should Be In Use.” (roughly translated) (Rozprawa, czyli Sławianie lub Słowianie zwać się i mówić właściwie maią):
“There is the following idea of how the name of Suavs arose: A foreign traveler asked a Suav who he was? The man answered ‘człowiek’ [a “man”]. The foreigner thought he heard Suoviek or Suovak, and this answer provided the name for the whole nation. Others derive the name from the town Skuova on the Dnieper [Šklov/Shkloŭ/Шклоў in today’s Belarus]; others from the river Łaba, that is Elbe, also called Selawa.”
Now, Elbe may or not have been called Selawa but the Thuringian Saale certainly has been and continues to be called Solawa/Solava/Soława by the Sorbs. Of course, this region is also where the ancient writers thought the river Suevus flowed which also gave its name to the Suevi (or vice versa). Sałowa, Salówka and similar names also appear in other areas. An interesting question is whether some or all these names have something to do with zalewa, that is, [the river] that floods. (For Suevi as Uebi (from Łaba), see here, of course, łeb also means “head”).
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