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'''Sporoi''' ({{langx|el|Σπόροι}}) or '''Spori''' was according to Eastern Roman scholar [[Procopius]] (500–560) the old name of the [[Antes (people)|Antes]] and [[Sclaveni]], two [[Early Slav]]ic branches. Procopius stated that the Sclaveni and Antes [[Proto-Slavic|spoke the same language]], but he did not trace their common origin back to the [[Vistula Veneti|Veneti]] (as per Jordanes) but to a people he called "Sporoi".<ref name=Barford-36>{{cite book|author=Paul M. Barford|title=The Early Slavs: Culture and Society in Early Medieval Eastern Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Z9ItAtbJ5AC|date=January 2001|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-3977-3|page=36}}</ref> He derived the name from Greek {{lang|el|σπείρω}} ("[[sowing|to sow]]"), because "they populated the land with scattered settlements".<ref name=Hrushevskyi>{{cite book|author1=Михайло Грушевський|author2=Andrzej Poppe|author3=Marta Skorupsky |author4=Uliana M. Pasicznyk |author5=Frank E. Sysyn|title=History of Ukraine-Rus': From prehistory to the eleventh century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_ENAQAAMAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Kiyc Cius|isbn=978-1-895571-19-6|page=57}}</ref>
==Studies==
Ukrainian historian [[Mykhailo Hrushevskyi]] (1866–1934) noted the scholarly view on the matter: Procopius' etymology was rejected as mistaken, and many scholars linked the term with the [[Serbs]]; some sought a connection to [[Ptolemy]]'s [[Serboi]], but "these Serboi lived far to the east, in the [[Volga]] region". He noted that the Slavic Serbs appear in historical records in the 9th century, and ''Serbs'' may have had a broader sense as suggested by two completely distinct [[Slavs|Slavic peoples]] (Balkan [[Serbs]] and [[Lusatian Sorbs]]), however, according to him, identical names occurred frequently among the [[Slavs]] and the "[Early] Slavs may not even have had their own common name to designate nationality. Such names often emerged only with time.".<ref name=Hrushevskyi/>
According to Czech historian [[Francis Dvornik]] (1893–1975), the Sporoi were probably the ''[[Spali]]'' mentioned by [[Jordanes]] ({{floruit}} 551) and ''Spalei'' mentioned by [[Pliny the Elder]] ({{floruit}} 77–79).<ref name="Dvorník1974">{{cite book|author=Francis Dvorník|title=The making of central and Eastern Europe|url=https://archive.org/details/makingofcentrale0000dvor|url-access=registration|year=1974|publisher=Academic International Press|isbn=978-0-87569-023-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/makingofcentrale0000dvor/page/277 277]–279}}</ref> According to the [[North American Society for Serbian Studies]], rather than connecting the ethnonym to the poorly known ''Spali'', it was more likely, as per the old view, a Greek rendering of the name ''Sorpoi'' or ''Sorboi'', connected to the Serbs.<ref>{{cite book|title=Serbian Studies|volume=2|issue=1–4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fOcVAQAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=North American Society for Serbian Studies|page=21}}</ref>
According to British archaeologist [http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n2001038535/ Paul M. Barford], writing in 2001, it most likely derived from the [[Proto-Slavic]] word for "multitude" (''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic/sporъ|sporъ]]'', whence Polish ''sporo'', etc.).<ref name=Barford-36/>
A connection has also been made with the ''[[Zeriuani]]'' mentioned by the 9th-century [[Bavarian Geographer]].<ref name="Cross1963">{{cite book|author=Samuel Hazzard Cross|title=Slavic civilization through the ages|url=https://archive.org/details/slaviccivilizati0000cros|url-access=registration|year=1963|publisher=Russell & Russell|page=[https://archive.org/details/slaviccivilizati0000cros/page/6 6]|quote=Zeruiani}}</ref> It states that the Zeriuani "which is so great a realm that from it, as their tradition relates, all the tribes of the Slavs are sprung and trace their origin" (Zeriuani tantum est regnum, ut ex eo cunctae gentes Sclavorum exortae sint, et originem, sicut affirmant, ducant).<ref name="Cross1963"/>
===Other ancient views on the Slavs===
In contrast to Procopius, the Roman bureaucrat [[Jordanes]] wrote about the Slavs in his work ''[[Getica]]'' (551): "although they derive from one nation, now they are known under three names, the Veneti, Antes and Sclaveni" ({{lang|la|ab unastirpe exorti, tria nomina ediderunt, id est Veneti, Antes, Sclaveni}}); that is, the West Slavs, East Slavs, and South Slavs.<ref name="Kmietowicz1976">{{cite book|author=Frank A. Kmietowicz|title=Ancient Slavs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amTxAAAAMAAJ|year=1976|publisher=Worzalla Publishing Company|quote=Jordanes left no doubt that the Antes were of Slavic origin, when he wrote: 'ab unastirpe exorti, tria nomina ediderunt, id est Veneti, Antes, Sclaveni' (although they derive from one nation, now they are known under three names, the Veneti , Antes and Sclaveni). The Veneti were the West Slavs, the Antes the East Slavs, and the Sclaveni the South or Balkan Slavs.}}</ref> He stated that the Veneti were the ancestors of the Sclaveni and the Antes, the two having used to be called ''Veneti'' but are now "chiefly" called Sclaveni and Antes.<ref>Jordanes, ''Getica'' 5.</ref>
==See also==
*[[Slavs (ethnonym)]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*{{cite journal|title=De Sclavinis et sclavis...|author=Adam Lukaszewicz|journal=Dialogues d'histoire ancienne|year=1998|volume=24|issue=2|pages=129–135|doi=10.3406/dha.1998.2394|url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/dha_0755-7256_1998_num_24_2_2394}} {{in lang|fr}}
[[Category:Slavic history]]
[[Category:Ancient Slavic peoples]]
[[Category:South Slavic history]]
[[Category:East Slavic tribes]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of Europe]]
[[Category:Slavic studies]]
[[Category:Greek words and phrases]]