Krajina

Krajina (pronounced [krâjina]) is a Slavic toponym, meaning 'frontier' or 'march'. The term is related with kraj or krai, originally meaning "edge"^[1] and today denoting a region or province, usually distant from the metropole.

Etymology

The Serbo-Croatian word krajina derives from Proto-Slavic *krajina, derived from *krajь, meaning "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] 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 equal to German Mark and French marche.^[5]

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 word with meaning "a land, landscape" (e.g. in Slovak, Czech or Sorbian).

Geographical regions

• Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Bosanska Krajina, around Banja Luka and encompassing a larger area, also on older maps called Turkish Croatia; westwards from Vrbas river, on the NW from Završje (on older maps, Završje is a part of Croazia Turca, Türkisch Kroatien, Török Horvátország ^[6])
  • Cazinska Krajina, borderland of Bosnia towards Croatia around the city of Cazin. Today its considered as Una-Sana Canton.
• Croatia
  • Krayna vu Otoce: medieval Glagolitic name of Gacka valley in Lika highlands
  • Cetinska krajina, area along the valley of river Cetina in the southern Croatia, in Zagora, to the east from Herzegovina (Bosnia and Herzegovina), mostly containing Sinjsko polje
  • Drniška krajina, area around the city of Drniš in southern Croatia, in Zagora, to west from Cetinska krajina
  • Imotska krajina, area around the city of Imotski, in southern Croatia, in Zagora mostly containing Imotsko polje, to east from Cetinska and Omiška krajina, to west from Vrgoračka krajina; also the name of the soccer club from Imotski
  • Istarska krajina, historical region in western Croatia, central area of peninsula of Istria ^[7]
  • Kninska Krajina, region around Knin in southern Croatia, to north from Drniška krajina and northeast from Cetinska krajina
  • Neretvanska krajina, historical area westwards from river of Neretva, southwest from župa Imota ^[7][8]
  • Omiška krajina, region in hinterland of city of Omiš, in Croatian south, in Zagora; to east from Cetinska krajina, to west from Cetinska krajina
  • municipality of Krajina, a municipality in southern Croatia, located between Split and Imotski, existed from 1912–1945 ^[9]
  • Sinjska krajina, area in Zagora, in southern Croatia, around the city of Sinj, west from Livanjski kraj, southeast from Vrlička krajina (sometimes considered as part of Cetinska krajina)
  • Vrgoračka krajina, area in Zagora, in southern Croatia, around the city of Vrgorac, southwest from Herzegovina and west from Neretva valley, to east from Imotska krajina
  • Vrlička krajina, area in Zagora, in southern Croatia, around the city of Vrlika, west from Livanjski kraj, northwest from Cetinska krajina (sometimes considered as part of Cetinska krajina)
  • Krajina is also a Croat surname
  • a part of peri-littoral area near Makarska in Croatia is called Krajina (see reference)
• Montenegro
  • Skadarska Krajina, region north from Bar and Ulcinj, across the mountain. It borders Skadar Lake on its northern edge.
• Poland
  • Krajna, on the border of provinces Greater Poland and Pomerania
• Serbia
  • Timočka Krajina, borderland of Serbia towards Bulgaria around Timok River
    • Negotinska Krajina, a part of Timočka Krajina around the city of Negotin
  • Koča's krajina, an area liberated during eighth Austrian-Turkish war
• Slovenia
  • Bela krajina, borderland of Slovenia towards Croatia

Political regions

Subdivisions of Austria-Hungary:

• Military Krajina (Military Frontier, 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 towards Bosnia)

Political units formed by rebel Serbs during the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s:

• Republic of Serbian Krajina
• SAO Krajina
• SAO Kninska Krajina, Kninska Krajina since the Yugoslav wars is used by some to signify two regions Knin and its surroundings, and to a larger extend Krajina proper (referring to main portion of Republic of Serb Krajina).
• SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem, sometimes called Podunavska Krajina

Political unit formed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s:

• SAO Bosanska Krajina

Where the term "Serbian Krajina" or "Krajina" alone is used, it probably refers to the former Republic of Serbian Krajina.

In Russia:

• "krai" or "kray" is the word for the territories of Russia, a second-level subdivision

In Slovakia:

• "kraj" is used for the regions of Slovakia, a first-level subdivision

In Czech Republic:

• "kraj" is used for the regions of the Czech Republic, a first-level subdivision

In Ukraine:

• Krajina or країна - means country, land in Ukrainian. Ukrajina is Ukrainian ethnonym for Ukraine. See also: Name of Ukraine.

People

• Krajina Belojević, a 9th-century Serbian Duke in the Principality of Serbia

See also

• Kraj
• Semasiological map for *krajь

References

1. Rick Derksen (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Brill: Leiden-Boston, page 244
2. “*krajina” in Oleg Trubačóv (ed.) (1974–), Этимологический словарь славянских языков [Etymological dictionary of Slavic languages], Moscow: Nauka, volume 12, pages 87-88
3. 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
4. Group of authors (1969). "Кра̏јина". Речник српскохрватскога књижевног језика, vol. 3 (in Serbo-Croatian). Novi Sad/Zagreb: Matica srpska/Matica hrvatska. p. 30.
5. Group of authors (1972). "Krajina". In colonel-general Nikola Gažević. Vojna enciklopedija, vol. 4 (in Serbo-Croatian). Belgrade. p. 681.
6. Pándi Lajos - Köztes Európa 1756-1997
7. Croatia in 1073
8. (Croatian) Excerpt from the book I. Marinović, B. Šutić, M. Viskić: Baćina: Prošlost Baćine, Udruga Pagania, Ploče, 2005, ISBN 953-95132-0-0
9. (Croatian) Povijest

• 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)