'''Duke Branimir''' from the 880s, spoke old Slavic Chakavian and was from the Dalmatian hinterland. Mr Branimir is, I believe the first Croatian ''or'' the first Southern Slav to describe himself as a Croatian (recorded as such and based on the current records that we have). In my opinion his tribe, who were the old Slavic Chakavian speakers, are the first Croatians (the ''Harvat tribe'', modern: Hrvati <ref>It is believed that Hrvat in medieval times was pronounced "'''Harvat or Hrovat'''". It was translated to Latin: Chroatorum and then simplified to Croatorum.</ref>). We can safely assume that Branimir's tribe goes back a few generations, especially since they had their own language i.e. Old Chakavian Croatian. | '''Duke Branimir''' from the 880s, spoke old Slavic Chakavian and was from the Dalmatian hinterland. Mr Branimir is, I believe the first Croatian ''or'' the first Southern Slav to describe himself as a Croatian (recorded as such and based on the current records that we have). In my opinion his tribe, who were the old Slavic Chakavian speakers, are the first Croatians (the ''Harvat tribe'', modern: Hrvati <ref>It is believed that Hrvat in medieval times was pronounced "'''Harvat or Hrovat'''". It was translated to Latin: Chroatorum and then simplified to Croatorum.</ref>). We can safely assume that Branimir's tribe goes back a few generations, especially since they had their own language i.e. Old Chakavian Croatian. |