The nameKosovo (as referred to in this spelling) is the most frequently used form inEnglish when discussing the region in question.[citation needed] The Albanian spellingKosova has lesser currency.[citation needed] The alternative spellingsCossovo andKossovo were frequently used until the early 20th century.[1]
The toponymKosovo in contemporary times refers to entire territory ofKosovo.Kosovo originally referred toplain of Kosovo, which forms part of eastern Kosovo.[citation needed] Regions which are today considered parts of Kosovo includeDukagjin/Metohija,Llapusha,Llap and other areas.Kosovo was used as the name of the entire territory for the first time in 1877 when theKosovo Vilayet was created by theOttoman administration.[2]
There is a theory within linguistics that the name Dardania used in ancient times for the area of Kosovo is derived from the Albanian worddardhë, meaning "pear".[3][4]
Due to its Slavic (Serbian) character, Kosovo Albanian leaderIbrahim Rugova supported a name change to "Dardania", in reference to theancient kingdom and later-turnedRoman province.[5] It, however, did not enter into general usage.
Kosovo (Serbian Cyrillic:Косово) is theSerbian neuter possessive adjective ofkos (кос), meaning "blackbird";-ovo being an adjectival suffix – it is short for the region named the "field of the blackbird" (Serbian:Kosovo polje), theKosovo Field, the site of the1389 battle between a coalition led by Serbian PrinceLazar and the Ottoman army, which resulted in depletion ofSerbian available manpower in future campaigns.[6] The nameKosovo Kos- is found in hundreds of Slavic locations.[7] The cognate ofProto-Slavickosь isAncient Greekκόσσυφος.[8][7]
Linguistic and historical research have shown that the medieval Serb state expanded into the region during the twelfth century.[9][10][11] Many toponyms in Kosovo appear to be South Slavic.[11] The name Kosovo appears in Bulgaria asKosovo, Plovdiv Province.
Kosovo was part of the Ottoman state for 457 years.
Ottoman travellerEvliya Çelebi, who went to the area in 1660 referred to central Kosovo asArnavud (آرناوود) and noted that inVučitrn its inhabitants were speakers ofAlbanian orTurkish and few spoke "Boşnakca".[12] The highlands around theTetovo, Peja and Prizren areas Çelebi considered as being the "mountains of Arnavudluk".[12] Çelebi referred to the "mountains of Peja" as being in Arnavudluk and considered theIbar river that converged inMitrovica as forming Kosovo's border withBosnia.[12] He viewed the "Kılab" orLlapi river as having its source in Arnavudluk and by extension theSitnica as being part of that river.[12] Çelebi also included the central mountains of Kosovo within Arnavudluk.[12]
During Ottoman rule the area of Kosovo was referred to asArnavudluk (آرناوودلق) meaning Albania by the empire in its documents such as those dating from the eighteenth century.[13][14][15]
In the late Ottoman period Albanians claimed the sancaks ofYeni Pazar (Novi Pazar),Ipek (Peja),Prizren, Priștine (Pristina) andÜsküp (Skopje) which were all withinKosovo Vilayet as forming part ofGegalık or Land of the Gegs, a term named afterGheg Albanians who inhabited the area.[16]
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.[17][18] In 1990, the name was reversed to "Kosovo and Metohija".[citation needed] After theKosovo War, theUnited Nations mission used only "Kosovo" as the name of the province.
^Wilkes, John (1992).The Illyrians. Wiley. p. 244.ISBN9780631146711. "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)."
^Anscombe, Frederick (2006). "Albanians and "mountain bandits"". In Anscombe, Frederick (ed.).The Ottoman Balkans, 1750–1830. Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers. pp. 87–113.ISBN9781558763838. Archived fromthe original on 25 January 2016. p.88, 107 "In light of the recent violent troubles in Kosovo and Macedonia and the strong emotions tied to them, readers are urged most emphatically not to draw either of two unwarranted conclusions from this article: that Albanians are somehow inherently inclined to banditry, or that the extent of Ottoman "Albania" orArnavudluk (which included parts of present-day northern Greece, western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, Kosovo, and southern Serbia) gives any historical "justification" for the creation of a "Greater Albania" today."
