Rascia - Name

Name

The state(s) anachronistically called Raška were first known collectively as Serbia.

The name Rascia is used by modern historiography to refer to the mainland region (known in Serbian as the hinterlands (Zagorje)), in contrast to the maritime regions of the Adriatic coast) of the Principality of Serbia inhabited and ruled by Serbs; the seat of the early medieval state of Serbia. It may be used to describe the Serbian realm from 610–960. It is mainly used to describe Serbia from 1101 up to Stefan Nemanja (1166–1196) and the forming of the Serbian Kingdom in 1217. "Rascia" continued to serve as an exonym for Serbia in Western European sources since late 12th century, along with other names such as Servia and Slavonia.

The name is derived from the name of the region's most important fort, Ras which first appears in the work de aedificiis of Byzantine Procopius as Arsa prior to the forming of Serbia. Ras eventually became the capital district and seat of the first bishopric of Serbia (Bishopric of Ras, Raška episkopija). The name of the bishopric eventually started to denote the entire area under jurisdiction and later, under Stefan Nemanja, Ras was re-generated as state capital and the name spread to the entire land. The first attested appearance of the name Raška is in a charter from Kotor dated to 1186, in which Stefan Nemanja is mentioned as župan of Rascia (Prince of Serbia). Soon after Rascia became one of the common names for Serbia in western sources (Papacy, German, Italian, French etc.) often in conjunction with, Serbia (Servia et Rascia). However, Rascia appears scarcely in Serbian and never in Byzantine works to denote the state.

Between the 15th and 18th centuries, the term Raška (Rascia, Ráczság) was used to designate the southern Pannonian Plain inhabited by Serbs (Raci), who settled there during the late Middle Ages, the Ottoman period and the Great Serb migrations from medieval Serbia, "Rácz" has survived as a common surname in Hungary.

The Raška river has derived it's name from Arzon (Greek: Αρζον).