Editing Sorbs (section)

==Etymology==
{{main|Names of the Serbs and Serbia}}

The ethnonym "Sorbs" (''Serbja'', ''Serby'') derives from the medieval ethnic groups called "[[Sorbs (tribe)|Sorbs]]" (''Surbi'', ''Sorabi''). The original ethnonym, ''Srbi'', was retained by the Sorbs and [[Serbs]] in the [[Balkans]].{{sfn|Stone|2015|p=9}} By the 6th century, [[Slavs]] occupied the area west of the Oder formerly inhabited by [[Germanic peoples]].{{sfn|Stone|2015|p=9}} The Sorbs are first mentioned in the 6th or 7th century. In their languages, the other Slavs call them the "Lusatian Serbs", and the Sorbs call the Serbs "the south Sorbs".<ref name="DW-Lužički Srbi">{{cite web |url=http://www.dw.de/lu%C5%BEi%C4%8Dki-srbi-njema%C4%8Dki-slaveni-protestantske-vjere/a-4168316|title=Lužički Srbi - njemački Slaveni protestantske vjere|access-date=6 December 2014 |author=Deutsche Welle |language=hr|author-link=Deutsche Welle}}</ref> The name "Lusatia" was originally applied only to Lower Lusatia.{{sfn|Stone|2015|p=9}} It is generally considered that their ethnonym ''*Sŕbъ'' (plur. ''*Sŕby'') originates from [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]] with an appellative meaning of a "family kinship" and "alliance", however others argue a derivation from [[Scythian languages|Iranian-Sarmatian]].<ref name="Łuczyński"/><ref name="Rudnicki1959">{{cite book|last=Rudnicki|first=Mikołaj|author-link=Mikołaj Rudnicki|title=Prasłowiańszczyzna, Lechia-Polska|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R9IeAAAAMAAJ|year=1959|publisher=Państwowe wydawn. naukowe, Oddzia ︢w Poznaniu|language=pl|page=182}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Pohl |first=Heinz-Dieter |date=1970 |title=Die slawischen Sprachen in Jugoslawien |trans-title=The Slavic languages in Yugoslavia |language=de |journal=Der Donauraum |volume=15 |issue=1–2 |page=72 |doi=10.7767/dnrm.1970.15.12.63 |s2cid=183316961 |quote=Srbin, Plural Srbi: „Serbe“, wird zum urslawischen *sirbŭ „Genosse“ gestellt und ist somit slawischen Ursprungs41. Hrvat „Kroate“, ist iranischer Herkunft, über urslawisches *chŭrvatŭ aus altiranischem *(fšu-)haurvatā, „Viehhüter“42.}}</ref><ref name="Popowska">{{cite journal|last=Popowska-Taborska |first=Hanna |date=1993 |title=Ślady etnonimów słowiańskich z elementem obcym w nazewnictwie polskim |url=http://yadda.icm.edu.pl/yadda/element/bwmeta1.element.hdl_11089_16320 |language=pl |journal=Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Linguistica |volume=27 |pages=225–230 |doi=10.18778/0208-6077.27.29 |access-date=16 August 2020|hdl=11089/16320 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>