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the z in English azure, and in Bohemian like r followed by the same sound of z; Polish t is a guttural (more accurately, velar) l; ń has the palatal value of ni in English onion. The sibilant š is like sh in English shoe (in Lithuanian this sound is often written sz), and ž (Lithuanian ż) is like z in azure.

      Of the consonants č (often written cz in Lithuanian) has the value of ch in church; ch that of the German or Scottish ch in ach, loch; c that of the German z (ts).

      The consonant-groups in the present study are pronounced as follows: cz like ch in church; dz and dj like j in judge; rz like z in azure; sj like sh in shoe; and szcz like shch in fresh-chosen.

      INTRODUCTION

       Table of Contents

      Since those records of ancient Slavic life which have survived are very superficial, it is not surprising that only scanty and fragmentary knowledge of Slavonic religions has come down to us. The native chroniclers, imbued with Christian civilization, dealt shallowly and, it would seem, reluctantly with the life of their pagan ancestors; and while writers of other nationalities have left much more thorough accounts of the religions of the Slavic peoples, yet, being ignorant of the Slavic dialects and insufficiently familiar with the lives and customs of the Slavs, their documents are either very confused or betray a one-sided Classical or Christian point of view. It must further be borne in mind that the extant data treat of the period immediately preceding the introduction of Christianity, when the Slavic nations, inhabiting a wide-spread region and already possessed of some degree of civilization, had made considerable progress from their primeval culture. Hence no inferences may be drawn from the mythology of one Slavic nation as to the religion of the Slavs as a whole.

      These poor and scanty accounts of the mythology of the ancient Slavs are supplemented by old traditions which still live among the people, these legends being very rich and containing ample survivals of the past, since even after their conversion to Christianity the common folk clung to their pagan beliefs. Thus ancient national tales, preserved to this very day, contain distinct traces of the early faith, and these traditions, verified by old evidence, are of such prime importance that they will form the basis of our description of Slavic mythology.

       References

      SLAVIC

      Introduction

      10. Les Prairies d'or, ed. and tr. C. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, Paris, 1861–77, especially ii. 9, iii. 63–64, iv. 58–60.

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