Name Raška (region)

ruins of ras fortress capital of grand principality of duklja

the name derived name of region s important fort, ras first appears in work de aedificiis of byzantine procopius arsa prior forming of serbia (procopius, de aedificiis, iv 4). ras became capital district , seat of first bishopric of serbia (the eparchy of raška , prizren). name of bishopric started denote entire area under jurisdiction , later, under stefan nemanja, ras re-generated state capital , such has @ times been used in historiography refer serbia 12th 14th century. had begun use exonym serbia in western european sources in 13th century, along other names such dalmatia , slavonia. first attested appearance of name raška in kotor charter (1186), in stefan nemanja mentioned župan of raška. after raška (rascia) became exonym serbia in western sources (papacy, german, italian, french etc.) in conjunction serbia (servia et rascia). however, name appears scarcely in medieval serbian , never in byzantine works denote state.

between 15th , 18th centuries, term raška (rascia, ráczság) used designate southern pannonian plain inhabited serbs (raci), settled there during late middle ages, ottoman period , great serb migrations medieval serbia, rácz has survived common surname in hungary.