Name of Croatia

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The name of Croatia (Croatian : Hrvatska) derives from Medieval Latin Croātia, itself a derivation of the native ethnonym, earlier Xъrvatъ and modern-day Croatian : Hrvat.

Croatia Republic in Central Europe

Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, on the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro to the southeast, sharing a maritime border with Italy. Its capital, Zagreb, forms one of the country's primary subdivisions, along with twenty counties. Croatia has an area of 56,594 square kilometres and a population of 4.28 million, most of whom are Roman Catholics.

Croatian language South Slavic language

Croatian is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language used by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina, and other neighboring countries. It is the official and literary standard of Croatia and one of the official languages of the European Union. Croatian is also one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and a recognized minority language in Serbia and neighboring countries.

Medieval Latin form of Latin used in the Middle Ages

Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned as the main medium of scholarly exchange, as the liturgical language of the Church, and as the working language of science, literature, law, and administration.

Contents

Earliest record

The Branimir Inscription, c. 888 Greda i zabat s natpisom kneza Branimira 879.jpg
The Branimir Inscription, c. 888

The first attestation of the term is in the Latin charter of duke Trpimir from 852, whose original has been lost. A copy has been preserved in a 1568 transcript; Lujo Margetić has proposed in 2002 that the document is in fact of legislative character, dating to 840. [1] In it is mentioned:

Trpimir I of Croatia 9th-century Duke of Croatia

Trpimir I was a duke in Croatia from around 845 until his death in 864. He is considered the founder of the Trpimirović dynasty that ruled in Croatia, with interruptions, from around 845 until 1091. Although he was formally vassal of the Frankish Emperor Lothair I, Trpimir used Frankish-Byzantine conflicts to rule on his own.

Lujo Margetić was a Croatian legal historian.

Dux Chroatorum iuvatus munere divino […] Regnum Chroatorum

The oldest stone inscription is the Latin Branimir Inscription (found in Šopot near Benkovac), where Duke Branimir is mentioned:

Šopot Village in Zadar, Croatia

Šopot is a village in Croatia. It is connected by the D27 state road. The name of the place comes from OCS word *sopotъ and means resurgence. Branimir Inscription was found in the place among the ruins of medieval church, also founded by duke Branimir.

Benkovac Town in Zadar, Croatia

Benkovac is a town and municipality (Općina) in the interior of Zadar County, Croatia.

Branimir of Croatia Duke of Croatia

Branimir was a ruler of Croatia who reigned as duke from 879 to 892. His country received papal recognition as a state from Pope John VIII on 7 June 879. During his reign, Croatia retained its sovereignty from both Frankish and Byzantine rule and became de jure independent.

BRANIMIRO COM […] DUX CRVATORVM COGIT […]

The earliest written monument in Croatian language, containing the ethnonym xъrvatъ (IPA:  [xŭrvaːtŭ] ) is the Baška tablet from 1100, which reads: zvъnъmirъ kralъ xrъvatъskъ ("Zvonimir, king of Croats"). [2]

Baška tablet

Baška tablet is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian recension of the Church Slavonic language, dating from c. 1100.

Etymology

The Tanais Tablet B containing the word Khoroathos (Khoroathos). Horovathos.jpg
The Tanais Tablet B containing the word Χοροάθος (Khoroáthos).

The exact origin and meaning of the ethnonym Hrvat (Proto-Slavic *Xъrvátъ [3] [4] ) is poorly known and currently subject to scientific disagreement. It is believed that the word might not be of native Slavic lexical stock, but a borrowing. [5] [6] Common theories from the 20th century derive it from an Iranian origin, [7] the root word being a third-century Scytho-Sarmatian form attested in the Tanais Tablets as Χοροάθος (Khoroáthos, alternate forms comprise Khoróatos and Khoroúathos). [2]

Proto-Slavic proto-language

Proto-Slavic is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all the Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 5th to 9th centuries AD. As with most other proto-languages, no attested writings have been found; scholars have reconstructed the language by applying the comparative method to all the attested Slavic languages and by taking into account other Indo-European languages.

Tanais Tablets

The Tanais Tablets are two tablets dated late 2nd-3rd century AD, and written in Greek from the city of Tanais, in the proximity of modern Rostov-on-Don, Russia. At the time, Tanais was composed of a mixed Greek and Sarmatian population. The tablets are public inscriptions which commemorate renovation works in the city. One of the tablets, Tanais Tablet A, is damaged and is not fully reconstructed. The other one, Tanais Tablet B, is fully preserved and is dated to 220 AD.

This form was used to substantiate the derivation of Proto-Slavic *xъrvatъ from the Old Persian xaraxwat-, attested by the Old Iranian toponym Harahvait-, the native name of Arachosia. [4] "Arachosia" is the Latinized form of Ancient Greek Ἀραχωσία (Arachosíā); in Old Persian inscriptions, the region is referred to as Harahuvatiš ( Old Persian ha.png Old Persian ra.png Old Persian u.png Old Persian va.png Old Persian ta-ti.png Old Persian i.png Old Persian sa.png ). [8] In Indo-Iranian it actually means "one that pours into ponds", which derives from the name of the mythological Sarasvati River. [9] However, although the somewhat suggestive similarity, the connection to the name of Arachosia is etymologically incorrect. [9]

Arachosia former country

Arachosia is the Hellenized name of an ancient satrapy in the eastern part of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Greco-Bactrian, and Indo-Scythian empires. Arachosia was centred on the Arghandab valley in modern-day southern Afghanistan, although its influence extended east to as far as the Indus River. The main river of Arachosia was called Arachōtós, now known as the Arghandab River, a tributary of the Helmand River. The Greek term "Arachosia" corresponds to the Aryan land of Harauti which was around modern-day Helmand. The Arachosian capital or metropolis was called Alexandria Arachosia or Alexandropolis and lay in what is today Kandahar in Afghanistan. Arachosia was a part of the region of ancient Ariana.

Sarasvati River Ancient river in the Indian subcontinent

The Sarasvati River was one of the Rigvedic rivers mentioned in the Rig Veda and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts. The Sarasvati River played an important role in the Vedic religion, appearing in all but the fourth book of the Rigveda.

The first etymological thesis about the name of the Croats stems from Constantine Porphyrogennetos (tenth century), who connected the different names of the Croats, Βελοχρωβάτοι and Χρωβάτοι (Belokhrobatoi and Khrobatoi), with the Greek word χώρα (khṓra, "land"): "Croats in Slavic language means those who have many lands". In the 13th century, Thomas the Archdeacon considered that it was connected with the name of inhabitants of the Krk isle, which he gave as Curetes, Curibantes. In the 17th century, Juraj Ratkaj found a reflexion of the verb hrvati (se) "to wrestle" in the name. [10]

In the 19th century, many different derivations were proposed for the Croatian ethnonym:

The 20th century gave rise to many new theories regarding the origin of the name of the Croats:

From the Iranian theses the most widely accepted is the derivation by Oleg Trubachyov from *xar-va(n)t (feminine, rich in women, ruled by women), which derives from the etymology of Sarmatians name, [14] [7] the Indo-Aryan *sar-ma(n)t "feminine", in both Indo-Iranian adjective suffix -ma(n)t/wa(n)t, and Indo-Aryan and the Indo-Iranian *sar- "woman", which in Iranian gives *har-. [14] According to Radoslav Katičić this thesis doesn't entirely fit with the Croatian ethnonym, as the original form was Hrъvate not Hъrvate, [15] and the vowel "a" in the Iranian harvat- is short, while in the Slavic Hrъvate it is long. [16] Katičić concluded that of all the etymological considerations the Iranian is the least unlikely. [16] [17]

The Medieval Latin name "Croātia" is derived from North-West Slavic xrovat-, by liquid metathesis from Common Slavic *xorvat-, from Proto-Slavic, i. e. Iranian, *xarwāt-. [18] The Croatian ethnonym Hrvat in the Kajkavian dialect also appears in the form Horvat, while in the Chakavian dialect in the form Harvat. [19]

Distribution

Croatian place names can be found in northern Slavic regions such as Moravia and Slovakia, along the river Saale in Germany, in Austria and Slovenia, and in the south in Greece and Albania. [20]

Thus in the Duchy of Carinthia one can find Hrvatski kotar and Chrowat along upper Mura; [21] in Middle Ages the following place names have been recorded: Krobathen, Krottendorf, Krautkogel; [21] Kraut (before Chrowat and Croat) near Spittal. [21] In the Duchy of Styria there are toponyms such as Chraberstorf and Krawerspach near Murau, Chrawat near Laas in Judendorf, Chrowat, Kchrawathof and Krawabten near Leoben. [21] [22] Along middle Mura Krawerseck, Krowot near Weiz, Krobothen near Stainz and Krobathen near Straganz. [21] [23]

In Slovenia there are Hrovate and Hrovača; [21] in Germany along Saale river there were Chruuati near Halle) in 901 AD, Chruuati in 981 AD, [24] Chruazis in 1012 AD, [24] Churbate in 1055 AD, [24] Grawat in 1086 AD, [24] Curewate (now Korbetha), Großkorbetha (Curuvadi and Curuuuati 881-899 AD) and Kleinkorbetha, [24] and Korbetha west of Leipzig; [21] [25] [3] In Moravia are Charwath [26] or Charvaty near Olomouc, in Slovakia are Chorvaty and Chrovátice near Varadka. [21] The Charvatynia near Kashubians in district Neustadt is debatable. [26]

In the southern Balkans, the Republic of Macedonia has a place named Arvati (Арвати) situated near lower Prespa; [21] in Greece there is a Charváti (Χαρβάτι) in Attica and Harvation in Argolis, as well as Charváta (Χαρβάτα) on Crete; [21] [25] and Hirvati in Albania. [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ Antić, Sandra-Viktorija (November 22, 2002). "Fascinantno pitanje europske povijesti" [Fascinating question of European history]. Vjesnik (in Croatian).
  2. 1 2 Gluhak 1990, p. 131.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Gluhak 1990, p. 130.
  4. 1 2 Gluhak 1993.
  5. ↑ Gluhak 1990, p. 130–134.
  6. ↑ Gluhak 1993, p. 270.
  7. 1 2 Matasović 2008, p. 44.
  8. ↑ "The same region appears in the Avestan Vidēvdāt (1.12) under the indigenous dialect form Haraxvaitī- (whose -axva- is typical non-Avestan)."Schmitt, Rüdiger (1987), "Arachosia", Encyclopædia Iranica, 2, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 246–247
  9. 1 2 Katičić 1999, p. 12.
  10. 1 2 Gluhak 1990, p. 129f..
  11. ↑ Gluhak 1990, p. 129.
  12. ↑ Sakač, Stjepan K. (1937), "O kavkasko-iranskom podrijetlu Hrvata" [About Caucasus-Iranian origin of Croats], Renewed Life (in Croatian), Zagreb: Filozofski institut Družbe Isusove, 18 (1)
  13. 1 2 Marčinko 2000, p. 184.
  14. 1 2 Gluhak 1990, p. 131f..
  15. ↑ Gluhak 1990, p. 229.
  16. 1 2 Katičić 1999, p. 11.
  17. ↑ Marčinko 2000, p. 193.
  18. ↑ Gluhak 1990, p. 95.
  19. ↑ Velagić, Zoran (1997), "Razvoj hrvatskog etnonima na sjevernohrvatskim prostorima ranog novovjekovlja" [Development of the Croatian ethnonym in the Northern-Croatian territories of the early modern period], Migration and Ethnic Themes (in Croatian), Bjelovar, 3 (1-2): 54
  20. ↑ Goldstein 2003.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Gračanin 2006, p. 85.
  22. ↑ Marčinko 2000, p. 181.
  23. ↑ Marčinko 2000, p. 181-182.
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 Marčinko 2000, p. 183.
  25. 1 2 Vasmer 1941.
  26. 1 2 Marčinko 2000, p. 182.

Sources

Further reading

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