Answers (1)
It can be offensive to many people. But it's not just a title used for African slaves. The title of slave can mean a few different things. It can be used to describe a man in ancient times who worked to pay his debt while not getting paid. In Judeo/Christianity, Slave is a term that is used to describe a servant to God, it is not used in a bad way but a good way.
Today we usually picture African slaves when we hear that word but it's not always a bad thing.
The word slave in the English language originates from the Middle English sclav, which comes from the Old French esclave, which in turn comes from the Medieval Latin sclavus, which originates from the early Greek sklabos, from sklabenoi Slavs, of Slavic origin; akin to Old Russian Slovene, an East Slavic tribe. The Latin term sclavus originally referred to the Slavs of Eastern and Central Europe , as many of these people had been captured and then sold as slaves.
Slavery predates the written language and can be found in almost all cultures and continents. Slavery can be traced to the earliest records, such as the Code of Hammurabi in Mesopotamia (~1800 BCE.), which refers to slavery as an already established institution.
Sources: Wikipedia article titled as [slavery]
I was asking more specifically about Slavic people because the word slave is a distorted form of Slav rendering Slavs as perpetual chattel.