Republika Srpska - Name

Name

In the name Republika Srpska, the first word means republic. The second word is a nominalized adjective derived by adding the suffix -ska to srb-, the root of the noun Srbin, meaning Serb. The -ps- sequence rather than -bs- is a result of voicing assimilation. Adjectives derived in this way from ethnonyms are often used in Serbian as names of countries: e.g., Škot – Škotska (Scot – Scotland), Hrvat – Hrvatska (Croat – Croatia).

Although the name Republika Srpska is sometimes glossed as Serb Republic or Bosnian Serb Republic, and the government of Republika Srpska uses the semi-Anglicized term Republic of Srpska in English translations of official documents, western news sources such as the BBC, The New York Times, and The Guardian generally refer to the entity as the Republika Srpska.