18 JANUARY 1913, Page 16

SCLAV OR SLAV?

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Can you or any of your readers inform me of the correct pronunciation and orthography of the name of the great race which threatens to compete with the Teuton in the struggle for supremacy on the Continent of Europe ? Englishmen write it indiscriminately as Sclav or Slay. I observe that Turkish and Persian writers call it Siklev or Saklab, which seems to imply that there is a k sound in it ; this sound is preserved in the French " eselave," but has been dropped in the English "slave." How is the name spelt and pronounced in the Sclavonic languages F—I am, Sir, &c.,

Hotel Bel Silo, San Remo. F. H. TYRRELL,

January 4th, 1913. Lient.-Oenertil.