The Sprevane or Sprevani (; Slavonic: ''Sprevjane'') were a Slavic tribe who lived around the river Spree, where

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

is now, in the

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area of eastern

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. They were first recorded in 948 and again in 965 as living in the territory of the

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under Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. Archaeological finds point to them coming to the area in the 8th century, and by 825 they started to build a settlement in today's Köpenick, a district of Berlin. Their name is from ''Sprevja'' (the local Slavonic form of the river name Spree, meaning "to the right side") plus the Slavonic ethnic suffix ''-an'' (= the one living in that area) and "-e" meaning plural. The Germanized form, ''Sprewanen'', may have been influenced by the German verb ''wohnen'' (in

Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...

, ''wonen''), meaning "to dwell", but is also correct German plural of singular Sprevan.

See also