Names of Kosovo

The name ''Kosovo'' (as referred to in this spelling) is the most frequently used form in English when discussing the region in question. The Albanian spelling ''Kosova'' has lesser currency. The alternative spellings ''Cossovo'' and ''Kossovo'' were frequently used until the early 20th century.

Terminology

The toponym ''Kosovo'' in contemporary times refers to entire territory of Kosovo. ''Kosovo'' originally referred to plain of Kosovo, which forms part of eastern Kosovo. Regions which are today considered parts of Kosovo include Dukagjin/Metohija, Llapusha, Llap and other areas. ''Kosovo'' was used as the name of the entire territory for the first time in 1877 when the Kosovo Vilayet was created by the Ottoman administration.

In antiquity

Dardania

There is a theory within linguistics that the name Dardania used in ancient times for the area of Kosovo is derived from the Albanian word dardhë, meaning "pear". "Names of individuals peoples may have been formed in a similar fashion, Taulantii from ‘swallow’ (cf. the Albanian tallandushe) or Erchelei the ‘eel-men’ and Chelidoni the ‘snail-men’. The name of the Delmatae appears connected with the Albanian word for ‘sheep’ delmë) and the Dardanians with for ‘pear’ (''dardhë'')."

Due to its Slavic (Serbian) character, Kosovo Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova supported a name change to " Dardania", in reference to the ancient kingdom and later-turned Roman province. It, however, did not enter into general usage.

Medieval and contemporary

Kosovo

Kosovo ( sr-cyr, Косово) is the Serbian neuter possessive adjective of ''kos'' (), meaning " blackbird"; ''-ovo'' being an adjectival suffix – it is short for the region named the "field of the blackbird" ( sr-Latn, Kosovo polje), the Kosovo Field, the site of the 1389 battle between the army of Serbian Prince Lazar and the Ottoman Army, which resulted in depletion of Serbian available manpower in future campaigns. The name ''Kosovo'' Kos- is found in hundreds of Slavic locations. The cognate of Proto-Slavic kosь is Ancient Greek κόσσυφος.

Linguistic and historical research have shown that the medieval Serb state expanded into the region during the twelfth century.Have the Albanians invaded Kosova ?
- Alain Ducellier Many toponyms in Kosovo appear to be South Slavic. The name Kosovo appears in Bulgaria as Kosovo, Plovdiv Province.

Arnavudluk (Albania)

Kosovo was part of the Ottoman state for 457 years.

Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi, who went to the area in 1660 referred to central Kosovo as ''Arnavud'' (آرناوود) and noted that in Vučitrn its inhabitants were speakers of Albanian or Turkish and few spoke " Boşnakca". The highlands around the Tetovo, Peja and Prizren areas Çelebi considered as being the "mountains of Arnavudluk". Çelebi referred to the "mountains of Peja" as being in Arnavudluk and considered the Ibar river that converged in Mitrovica as forming Kosovo's border with Bosnia. He viewed the "Kılab" or Llapi river as having its source in Arnavudluk and by extension the Sitnica as being part of that river. Çelebi also included the central mountains of Kosovo within Arnavudluk.

During Ottoman rule the area of Kosovo was referred to as ''Arnavudluk'' (آرناوودلق) meaning Albania by the empire in its documents such as those dating from the eighteenth century. p. 41. "Anscombe (ibid., 107 n. 3) notes that Ottoman "Albania" or ''Arnavudluk''... included parts of present-day northern Greece, western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, Kosovo, and southern Serbia"; see also ''El2''. s.v. "Arnawutluk. 6. History" (H. İnalcık) and Arsh, ''He Alvania''. 31.33, 39–40. For the Byzantine period. see Psimouli, ''Souli''. 28."

Gegalik (Gegënia)

In the late Ottoman period Albanians claimed the sancaks of Yeni Pazar (Novi Pazar), Ipek (Peja), Prizren, Priștine (Pristina) and Üsküp (Skopje) which were all within Kosovo Vilayet as forming part of ''Gegalık'' or Land of the Gegs, a term named after Gheg Albanians who inhabited the area.

Kosovo and Metohija

The name "Kosovo and Metohija" was used for the autonomous province in Yugoslav Serbia since its creation in 1945 until 1968, when the term "Metohija" was dropped. In 1990, the name was reversed to "Kosovo and Metohija". After the Kosovo War, the United Nations mission used only "Kosovo" as the name of the province.

See also

*Kosovo
*Kosovo (disambiguation)
*Dardani

References

Sources

*

{{Countries and languages lists

Kosovo
Kosovo
History of Kosovo