Krajina is a Slavic toponym, meaning 'country' or 'march'. The term is related to kraj or krai, originally meanings land, country or edge 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, related to *krojiti 'to cut'; 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, . In Old East Slavic: Ѹкраина/Ꙋкраина, romanized: Oukraina [uˈkrɑjinɑ]) appears in the Hypatian Codex of c. 1425 under the year 1187 in reference to a part of the territory of Kievan Rus', meaning specifically region or land itself rather than borderland. In most Slavic languages (including the Chakavian and Kajkavian dialects of Serbo-Croatian), the root krajina is found and means country: in Polish (kraj), Slovak (krajina), Czech, Ukrainian (країна, romanised krayina), Belarusian (краіна, romanised kraina) and Sorbian. Though, in Slovenian, this word means land and march. To these languages, the word krajina was derived from Proto-Slavic *krajь, just like in Serbo-Croatian. The name of Ukraine derives from Old East Slavic украина (ukraina) 'boundary, outskirts, borderland', a compound of оу (u) 'beside, at' + краи (krai) 'land, edge' + -ина (-ina), a suffix creating a feminine noun. The Proto-Slavic word *krajь generally meant "edge", related to the verb *krojiti "to cut (out)", in the sense of "division", either "at the edge, division line", or "a division, region". In modern Slavic languages variations of kraj or krai mean a wide array thing, such as "edge, country, land, end, region, bank, shore, side, rim, piece (of wood), area." 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. Krajina is also a surname, mostly among South Slavic language speakers. The word kraj can today mean an end, extremity, region, land or area.

Geographical regions

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia

Croatia

Montenegro

Poland

Serbia

Slovenia

Political regions

Subdivisions of Austria-Hungary: Political units formed by rebel Serbs at the beginning of the Croatian War of Independence (1991–95): 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 Slovakia: In the Czech Republic: In Ukraine:

People