Sorbs

Sorbs

Sorbian flag, in Pan-Slavic colors, introduced 1842.
Female traditional costume of Lower Lusatia (Spreewald)
Total population
(60,000-70,000 (est.) • 40,000 Upper Sorbs • 20,000 Lower Sorbs)
Regions with significant populations
Germany	60,000
Czech Republic	2,000
Poland	less than 1,000
Languages
Sorbian (Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian), German
Religion
Majority Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism

Sorbs (Upper Sorbian: Serbja, Lower Sorbian: Serby, German: Sorben), known also by their former autonyms Lusatians and Wends, are a West Slavic ethnic group predominantly inhabiting their homeland in Lusatia, a region divided between Germany (the states of Saxony and Brandenburg) and Poland (the provinces of Lower Silesia and Lubusz). They traditionally speak the Sorbian languages (also known as "Wendish" and "Lusatian"), closely related to Polish, Kashubian, Czech and Slovak. Sorbian is an officially recognized minority language of Germany. The Sorbs are linguistically and genetically closest to the Czechs and Poles. Due to a gradual and increasing assimilation between the 17th and 20th centuries, virtually all Sorbs also spoke German by the late 19th century and much of the recent generations no longer speak the languages. The community is divided religiously between Roman Catholicism (the majority) and Lutheranism.

The ethnonym "Sorbs" (Serbja, Serby) derives from the medieval tribe, Sorbs (Surbi, Sorabi). The original ethnonym, Srbi, was retained by the Sorbs and Serbs in the Balkans. By the 6th century, Slavs occupied the area west of the Oder formerly inhabited by Germanic peoples. The Sorbs are first mentioned in the 7th century.