Krajina
Krajina (pronounced [krâjina]) is a Slavic toponym, meaning 'frontier' or 'march'. The term is related to kraj or krai, originally meaning 'edge'[1] and today denoting a region or province, usually remote from urban centers.
Etymology
The Serbo-Croatian word krajina derives from Proto-Slavic *krajina, derived from *krajь 'edge', related to *krojiti 'to cut';[1][2] the original meaning of krajina thus seems to have been 'place at an edge, fringe, borderland', as reflected in the meanings of Church Slavonic краина, kraina,[2] and Old East Slavic окраина, okraina.[3]
In some South Slavic languages, including Serbo-Croatian and Slovene, the word krajina or its cognate still refers primarily to a border, fringe, or borderland of a country (sometimes with an established military defense), and secondarily to a region, area, or landscape.[2][4] Krajina is also a surname, mostly among South Slavic language speakers. The word kraj can today mean an end or extremity, or region or area. Archaically extrapolated, it could mean 'army' or 'war';[4] this meaning developed from the earlier meaning of 'borderland' in a manner analogous to the French word campagne.[2] The term is equivalent to German Mark and French marche.[5] In the Habsburg Empire, a large region in modern Croatia was referred to as the Military Frontier (Militärgrenze; Vojna krajina).
In other Slavic languages (including the Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects of Serbo-Croatian), the term has other meanings, either a territorial name (cf. Krajna in Poland, from Old Polish kraina, meaning region, borderland, extremity[2]) or a word meaning 'a land, landscape' (for example in Polish, Slovak, Czech or Sorbian). In Slovenian, the word means both 'landscape' and march.
The name of Ukraine has a similar linguistic origin.
Geographical regions
Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bosanska Krajina sits in a triangle roughly between Banja Luka, Prijedor and Bihać, and encompasses a larger area westwards from the Vrbas river to Una and toward the Sava on the north; while on the south it is bordered by the Unac. In medieval Bosnia the region was known as Donji Kraji.
- Cazinska Krajina is the borderland of Bosnia adjacent to Croatia around the city of Cazin. Today it constitutes Una-Sana Canton.
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia
- Krajina, medieval name for the region(s) in Central Dalmatia in Croatia, including parts of Lower Neretva and western Herzegovina in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina. It extended in the east-west direction from the lower course of the river Neretva in the east to the river Cetina in the west, and in the south-north direction from the rivers Vrljika and Trebižat and the mountains Dinara, Mosor and Biokovo in the north to the Adriatic Sea.
- Neretvanska krajina, historical area west of the river Neretva and southwest of Imotski;[6] including a part of the peri-littoral area near Makarska in Croatia is called Krajina;
- Omiška krajina, region in the hinterland of Omiš, in Zagora in southern Croatia, west of Cetinska krajina;
- Vrgoračka krajina, area in Zagora, in southern Croatia, around the city of Vrgorac, southwest of Herzegovina and west of the Neretva valley, east of Imotska krajina;
- Vrlička krajina, area in Zagora, in southern Croatia, around the city of Vrlika, west of Livanjski kraj, northwest of Cetinska krajina (sometimes considered as part of Cetinska krajina);
- Imotska krajina, area around the city of Imotski, in Zagora in southern Croatia, constituted mostly by Imotsko polje;
- Cetinska krajina, area along the valley of the river Cetina in southern Croatia, in Zagora, west of the border with Herzegovina, constituted mostly by Sinjsko polje.
Croatia
- kъrainu (Krajina), medieval Glagolitic name of a Croatian province on the Baška tablet (c. 1100).
- municipality of Krajina, a former municipality located between Split and Imotski in southern Croatia, existed from 1912–1945;
- also the name of the soccer club from Imotski.
- Drniška krajina, area around the city of Drniš, in Zagora in southern Croatia.
- Istarska krajina, historical region in western Croatia, central area of Istria.
- Kninska Krajina, region around Knin in southern Croatia, north of Drniška krajina and northeast of Cetinska krajina.
- Sinjska krajina, area in Zagora in southern Croatia around the city of Sinj, west of Livanjski kraj, southeast of Vrlička krajina (sometimes considered as part of Cetinska krajina).
Montenegro
- Skadarska Krajina, region north of Bar and Ulcinj, across the mountain. It borders Skadar Lake on its northern edge.
Poland
- Krajna, historical region on the border between Greater Poland and Pomerania.
Serbia
- Timok Valley (Serbian: Тимочка Крајина, romanized: Timočka Krajina), border region of Serbia adjacent to Bulgaria, around the Timok River.
- Negotin Valley (Serbian: Неготинска Крајина, romanized: Negotinska Krajina), a part of the Timok Valley around the city of Negotin.
- Koča's krajina, an area liberated during the eighth Austrian-Turkish war.
Slovenia
- White Carniola (Slovene: Bela krajina), borderland of Slovenia adjacent to Croatia.
Political regions
Subdivisions of Austria-Hungary:
- Military Frontier (Serbo-Croatian: Vojna krajina, German: Militärgrenze), borderland of Austrian Empire against the Ottoman Empire. It was further divided into:
- Banat Krajina (on the Serbian-Romanian border);
- Croatian Krajina (on the border of western Croatia and Bosnia);
- Slavonian Krajina (on the border of Serbia and eastern Croatia with Bosnia).
Political units formed by rebel Serbs at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence (1991–95):
- Republic of Serbian Krajina (1991–95)
- SAO Krajina
- SAO Kninska Krajina, used by some since the Yugoslav Wars to signify two regions, Knin and its surroundings, and to a larger extent Krajina proper (the main portion of the Republic of Serb Krajina).
- SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, sometimes called Podunavska Krajina
Political unit formed by Serbs in the prelude (1991) to the Bosnian War (1992–95):
Where the term Serbian Krajina or Krajina alone is used, it most often refers to the former Republic of Serbian Krajina.
In Russia:
- In Russian, kray (край) is the word for the territories of Russia, a second-level subdivision.
In Slovakia:
- In Slovak, kraj is used for the regions of Slovakia, a first-level subdivision.
In the Czech Republic:
- In Czech, kraj is used for the regions of the Czech Republic, a first-level subdivision.
In Ukraine:
- In Ukrainian, krajina (країна) means 'country, land', while Ukrajina is the country's name. See also: Name of Ukraine.
People
- Krajina Belojević, a 9th-century Serbian duke in the Principality of Serbia
See also
References
- Rick Derksen (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Brill: Leiden-Boston, page 244
- *krajina in Oleg Trubačóv (ed.) (1974–), Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages], Moscow: Nauka, volume 12, pages 87-88
- Max Vasmer (1986), Etimologičeskij slovarʹ russkogo jazyka [Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language], in 4 vols (second edition), Moscow: Progress — Translated from German and supplemented by O. N. Trubačóv
- Group of authors (1969). "Кра̏јина". Речник српскохрватскога књижевног језика, vol. 3 (in Serbo-Croatian). Novi Sad/Zagreb: Matica srpska/Matica hrvatska. p. 30.
- Group of authors (1972). "Krajina". In colonel-general Nikola Gažević (ed.). Vojna enciklopedija, vol. 4 (in Serbo-Croatian). Belgrade. p. 681.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - (in Croatian) Excerpt from the book I. Marinović, B. Šutić, M. Viskić: Baćina: Prošlost Baćine, Udruga Pagania, Ploče, 2005, ISBN 953-95132-0-0
- Karlo Jurišić, Lepantska pobjeda i makarska Krajina, Adriatica maritima, sv. I, (Lepantska bitka, Udio hrvatskih pomoraca u Lepantskoj bitki 1571. godine), Institut JAZU u Zadru, Zadar, 1974., str. 217., 222., (reference from Morsko prase)