Pavel Josef Šafařik , 1795-1861, Czech philologist and archaeologist; his name is also spelled Schafarik and Schafřík. Šafařik advanced the theory that the Slavs originally were a composite people with a common language that later had split into separate dialects. In his Slavonic Antiquities (1836-37) he maintained that the Slavs had been indigenous to Europe since the 5th cent. BC His theories, though now obsolete, were of great significance in the advance of Slavic studies; they also gave intellectual impetus to Pan-Slavism.
Author not available, ŠAFAŘIK, PAVEL JOSEF.,
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press
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