Abstract
Florin Curta's controversial and provocative view of the Slavic ethnogenesis gives rise to several insistent linguistic questions. If the Slavs "were made" by the Byzantines from different ethnic groups on the border of the empire, how can we explain the affinity of Slavic and Baltic languages? Why should Proto-Slavic serve as a lingua franca in the Avar Khaganate? How does one explain the early presence of the Slavs and Slavic in Poland, Ukraine and Russia, far from the Byzantine empire and out of range of the Avar Khaganate? The contribution discusses these and adjacent questions resulting from Curta's conception from the point of view of Slavic historical linguistics.