Herzegovina

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A country in southeastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula, with a coastline on the Adriatic Sea and a population divided among Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats
2. A landlocked nation of the western Balkans, forming part of the former Yugoslavia and known for its mountainous terrain and diverse population
3. The southeastern European state that shares the name of a historic region, lying between Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia and the Adriatic coast

Etymology: The name of the Balkan region began as a title. German "Herzog" meant "duke," an old word for a military leader, built from roots meaning "army" and "leader." The Holy Roman Empire's dukes eventually lent the title to the lands they governed, and in the Balkans the Bosnian nobleman Stjepan Vukčić Kosača held the title "herzog" (duke of Saint Sava), which gave his territory its name. Later it became "Hercegovina" in Serbo-Croatian. The name itself is a possessive construction. The Serbo-Croatian "-ov" marks possession, and the feminine suffix "-ina" turns the result into a place name, so the whole word means roughly "a duke's possession" or "a dukedom." The English form "Herzegovina" was borrowed directly from the Serbo-Croatian place name rather than from German, so the German title survives inside a country name that Germans would recognize only through its root.