Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/ydkx2cgkd9
Contribution to the knowledge of the etymology of the oikonyms Vrbanja and Vrbanjuša (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Edita Spahić
orcid.org/0000-0002-1853-257X
; Univerzitet u Sarajevu Prirodno-matematički fakultet
Nusret Drešković
; Univerzitet u Sarajevu Prirodno-matematički fakultet
Abstract
The paper offers a detailed etymological analysis of the Sarajevo oikonyms
Vrbanja and Vrbanjuša, contextualised within the extra-linguistic reality in
which they emerged. Previous etymological treatments were imprecise and led to
incomplete conclusions regarding the possible linguistic origin and age of these
oikonyms.
The etymological and motivational analysis of the two oikonyms, along with
the examination of extra-linguistic factors relevant to their formation, is based on
Ottoman registers from 1455–1604, topographic maps and regulatory plans of the
Sarajevo area published between 1882 and 1949, as well as other written sources.
The analysis proposes that the toponymic base of both oikonyms is the
anthroponym Vrban, derived from the Latin personal name Urbanus, from
which, after the Slavic adaptation Urbanus > Vrban, the oikonym Vrbanja was
formed with the possessive suffix -j. The oikonym Vrbanjuša was subsequently
derived from Vrbanja using the suffix -uša. This conclusion is supported by
extra-linguistic evidence related to the cultural history of the city.
Keywords
etymology; motivation; oikonym; Vrbanja; Vrbanjuša;
Hrčak ID:
341244
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2025.
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