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