Quote Originally Posted by Линдзи
As far as the Slavs' own self-designation goes, its meaning is, understandably, better than “slave” it comes from the Indo-European root *kleu-, whose basic meaning is “to hear” and occurs in many derivatives meaning “renown, fame.” The Slavs are thus “the famous people.” Slavic names ending in -slav incorporate the same word, such as Czech Bohu-slav, “God's fame,” Russian Msti-slav, “vengeful fame,” and Polish Stani-slaw, “famous for withstanding (enemies).”
Slav (славяне, словене) - люди владеющие "словом". I.e. Slavs are verbal people. Opposite to "немцы" (germans and all western people) - i.e. dumb and unlanguaged. I'm sorry.