TheZeriuani orZeruiani was an unknown Slavic tribe mentioned by the 9th-centuryBavarian Geographer (BG). It states that the Zeruiani "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". It was the first Latin source to claim that all Slavs have originated from the same homeland.[1]
Zeruiani tantum est reguum, ut ex eo cunctae gentes Sclavorum exortae sint, et originem, sicut affirmant, ducant[2]
Zeruiani 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[3]
The tribe and its territory has not been identified and localized yet.[4]
While 19th century scholars assumed to have been connected to earlySerbs (although they are already mentioned in the same source asSurbi),[2][3][5][6][7][8] Czech anthropologistLubor Niederle and Polish historianKazimierz Tymieniecki also considered it as a corruption of eitherSarmatians orSeverians.[9] Modern Polish scholars likeHenryk Łowmiański argued it as a corrupted form of the name of the Severians. It is argued that the connections with the Serbs is impossible because the Northern Serbs lived on other part of Europe which also doesn't fit with the list,[10] and the Serbian ethnonym was never written with the Slavic suffix-jane (-eani), while the tribal name of the Severians was written in both collectiveSever and pluralSeverjane form, etymologically implying Severian tribes.Gerard Labuda considered those tribes arrived from theLesser Poland and western Ukraine, while Ryszard Kiersnowski assumed the Zeriuani were a relic of a large group which lived along the riverOder, but as there was no recorded tribe with such a name in those parts it also indicates the Ruthenian and Balkan Severians.[11] A more probable etymological derivation of bothZeriuani andZuierani, although their mutual connection is doubtful,[10] is proposed byTadeusz Lehr-Spławiński and many others, relating them toCherven Cities and hydronym*Czerwia.[4][12][13] However, based on the location of other tribes and phenomenological reasons, it is also possible to be a corruption of the name ofDrevlians.[4]
Identyfikacja ta nie jest jednak pewna, gdyż w źródle mamy nie Zeufejriani, lecz Zeriuani, co można odczytać jako Zeruiani, gdyż w czasach powstania Geografa Bawarskiego nie stawiano jeszcze kropki nad literą i. Poza tym źródło to nie zachowało się w oryginale. Ponieważ spółgłoska wargowa -Zamieszała się często w wymowie z również wargowym -v- (a raczej -w-), oddawanym w piśmie za pomocą litery -u-, przeto mamy prawo zapis ten odczytać jako Zerbiani, czyli Serbianie i ...