Is it Kosovo or Kosova in Ohio? Posted by Moira Whelan

I was looking at the statements released by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama regarding the announcement of Kosovo’s independence. (In full text after the jump)

Both speak to the need for protection of minorities, the need for peaceful actions going forward and the need to work within the European context. That said, there are some interesting differences between the two statements that I’m sure will not be lost on a number of voters concerned with this issue who live in Ohio and Pennsylvania, let alone leaders in the rest of the world.

First and most notable is the Clinton reference to “Kosova” and the Obama reference to “Kosovo.” Arguments differ, but suffice to say “Kosova” is considered the pro-Albanian reference while “Kosovo” is the historical name of the region dating back centuries. This may seem subtle to some, but speaks volumes to those who follow the issue.

Obama goes further on two fronts---he says point blank that he believes Serbia should be part of the European Union. Clinton does not. He also stresses that Kosovo’s vote for independence is in no way a precedent for anyone else in the region or around the world.

Now, be warned, I’m just comparing the statements, not overall policies, so it is possible I’m missing something here.

Beyond that, Hillary stresses that Bush didn’t do enough and Obama honors the service of Americans who served and still serve in the Balkans. (Again just statements…I doubt that either campaign would take issue with either of these things)

Read for yourself and decide what you think, but don’t underestimate the importance of both of these statements in terms of campaigns looking at major ethnic groups in important states in the coming days.

 CLINTON:

 I welcome the historic declaration of Kosova independence issued today in Pristina. I urge our friends and allies and around the world to join the United States and European Union countries in promptly recognizing an independent Kosova.

This is a historic step that will allow the people of Kosova to finally live in their own democratic state. It will allow Kosova and Serbia

to finally put a difficult chapter in their history behind them and to move forward. Resolving this issue has taken too long and has held both of these proud peoples back from pursuing a better European and Euro-Atlantic future. It is time now for all of us to look ahead and to focus on the challenge of building an independent Kosova and supporting a democratic Serbia in an integrated Europe.

I want to underscore the need to avoid any violence or provocations in the days and weeks ahead. Kosovars and Serbs have seen too much violence and too many provocations in the past. It is time to focus on improving the lives of people living in both countries and the integration of these countries into the West.

In recognizing the independence of Kosova, I want to stress the high importance that I attach to full protection of the rights of all minorities in Kosova, especially the Serbs, and to safeguard Serbian cultural and religious heritage sites in Kosova. The international community must stand firm on these points.

I remain concerned about the deterioration of the situation in neighboring Bosnia and urge the Bush Administration to pay more attention to this issue, so that it does not once again become a major threat to European stability.

I regret that is has taken so long for us to reach this historic juncture and that the Bush Administration has not always given the issues of Kosova, Serbia’s democratic future, and the Balkans the attention they deserve. This has helped contribute to the complicated and risky situation on the ground in the Balkans that we still face today. I look forward to working with the democratic leaders in this region and will once again make the full integration of the Western Balkans into Europe and the Euro-Atlantic community the priority it should be.

OBAMA:

Today's announcement of independence by the leadership of Kosovo ends a chain of events that began with the bloody break-up of the former Yugoslavia

. Kosovo's independence is a unique situation resulting from the irreparable rupture Slobodan Milosevic's actions caused; it is in no way a precedent for anyone else in the region or around the world.

"Kosovo's independence carries with it important responsibilities. The international community has devoted enormous resources to Kosovo's political, economic and social development for nearly a decade, with results not always meeting expectations. I hope that Kosovo's government and people act with urgency to ensure that Kosovo becomes a positive example of democratic governance and the rule of law. All the people of Kosovo, be they of Albanian, Serb or other origin, must be able to live in a free, tolerant and prosperous society where minority rights and religious sites are fully protected, and the people of Kosovo have a stake in one another's success.

"Serbia and its people have also suffered terribly over the past two decades. Serbs deserve a more peaceful, prosperous, and hopeful future. This month's re-election of President Boris Tadic was a critical step in moving Serbia

closer to the goal of full integration into the democratic West, including membership in Euro-Atlantic institutions that can help bring more stability and prosperity to the people of Serbia.Serbia ultimately belongs in the European Union. The EU and

Serbia should rapidly deepen their ties, a move that would help demonstrate to the Serb people that they are indeed genuinely part of the West.

"I honor the service of all Americans, military and civilian, who have worked so hard to bring peace to the Balkans. The United States must continue to work with our European allies on behalf of the security and prosperity of the entire region. I am convinced that, with our support, Serbia and Kosovo can emerge as models of democratic and economic growth, and their people can know a bright future."

 

Comments

[AC]

Like Obama would even know the nuance of Kosovo over Kosova. Also, when you say 'while “Kosovo” is the historical name of the region dating back centuries' that's incorrect for two reasons:
1. Albanians have for centuries called it Kosova.
2. Serbs do not call it Kosovo either, they call it Косово и Метохија which if you transliterate it means Kosovo i Metohija (two parts, they make a point to stress that it's not just Kosovo).

[Dan Kervick]

This is no mere opportunistic pandering to some small ethnic voting bloc, but a continuation of Clinton's Kosovo fanaticism, which goes back to her husband's administration. Hillary Clinton was one of the chief internal advocates in the Clinton administration of the bombing of Serbia. For some reason, in 1999, she took up the cause of the militant Kosovo Liberation Army, and hasn't let go with radical Wilsonian infatuation with "national liberation" and the breakdown of states.

And in this and so many other areas, she shares the neoconservative prescriptions for the world. I guess this is neocon prescription #17: Jerk around with the lives of people in other countries in order to stick it to Russia whenever possible.

Whether it's Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria or the former Yugoslavia, Hillary Clinton is really dangerous. She's very likely to bring us a new Cold War or worse with her fanaticism and love of violent solutions to global problems. I'm glad to see Obama has a somewhat more restrained and realistic assessment of what is going on in that part of the world, and is more inclined to resolve conflicts than provoke them.

[Aleksandar Kacanski]

I would add that Hillary unfortunately does not have enough experience at working a detailed plan for pursuing international broad objectives, the similar issue that brought us Madeline Albright and her determine pursue of Administration to bomb Serbia unleashing only misery and hardship on both Serb and Albanians within Kosovo, Bosnia and Balkans in general. It is striking lack of insight in both coupled with greed for power and battle with inferiority complex. I have only respect for Mr. Obama for his more calm and perusing argument that propagates alternatives for both people. I only see world going down the path of self destruction with chance of Clinton's saga going forward.

[Portia Belmont]

Barack Obama does indeed understand the nuance between "Kosovo" and "Kosava". He is the Senator from Illinois, a state whose governor, Rod Blagojevich, is a Serb, and he (Obama) lives on the south side of Chicago which still has a large Serbian population. It's not like Kosovo is a small issue with Obama's 818,000 Serbian constituents, and it doesn't take a genius to know that he's has heard plenty from them about it.

I read his statement as very nuanced. He knows you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, but he also see it as critical for the future stability of the entire region for the US and Europe to normalize relations with Serbia.

[Jovana Grozdanic]

It is easy for Clinton to say "It will allow Kosova and Serbia

to finally put a difficult chapter in their history behind them and to move forward". If a certain group of peopole were the mijority in one of the states in America and wanted to succede, there is no way the American Govt. would let that happen, and if they use any kind of force they would be proclaimed as Terrorists. I mean after all Americans are the ones who take everything away by force anyway. Thats what America is made of, steeling land from other countries. Stole land from the Natives, stole land from Mexico. Acctualy if you think about it what happened in Texas is very similar to what happened in Kosovo. The whites came to Texas and when they became the mijority they wanted Texas to be independant and when they saw they wouldnt get it easly they started a war. When they won the war they took California and New Mexico as well. So for Clinton and Obama its easy to say "This is a good step for both the Serbians and the Albanians", yea its good for the Albanians they have their own independant state now, but the Serbians just lost the most immportant Part of the country. Kosovo's ONE Serbian Orthodox church is older than the whole America. Nobody even knew America existed when the Serbian people were living in Kosovo fighting for their people, land, and traditions. Serbians can never just "put this behind" You cant lose your heart and "put it behind" The Albanian people wouldnt even be the mijority right now if it wasnt for the bombong of Serbia in 1999. America Bombed Serbia and all the Serbian people left and the Albanians became the mijority. The Albanian peple were not waving the American flag while celebrating for no reason. First they announce the KLA as terrorists and then they give them Serbian land. So saying this is for the best for Serbians and Albanians is is very easy for them, they never had land stolen from them, they are the ones steeling it and giving other countires lands away as well.

I would also like to add that "Kosovo" is short for "Kosovo and Metohija" so saying just "Kosovo" is ok, and it is correct and the Serbian people do call it kosovo, Kosovo i metohija is just the whole name. And Obama indeed knows the REAl name of "KOSOVO"!

[aces]

lissen you havent got a clue what you are talking about serbs are the migrants and stole land from the albanian people history sates that. they are all russians. and further more answer this question say if texas was 96% mexican ( KOSOVA ALWAYS HAD ILLYRIANS WHICH LATER CAME TO BE ALBANIAN) and north american forces came and slaughterd raped and commited inhumane atrocities and an ally help texas to drvve forces out and succeeded would the mexican population want an independent state?? of course the wouldnt want to deal with barbarians like that and its kosova and will allways be kosova, serbs never look at the facts esp when it comes to the slobodan era aswell as the migriant influx from russia in prehistoric times, such ignorance LEAVE KOSOVA ALONE IT NEVER BELONGED TO THE SERBS AND IT NEVER WILL

[Jovana Grozdanic]

How could it "always" belong to Albanians when there is Churches and Monestaries that are over 1000 years old, they had to be built by Serbians people. cuz i mean Albanians are muslim so they wouldnt build them.. Kosovo has more churches/monistaries than any other state in the wolrd, and if "kosovo" was Albanian why would there be over 100 Serbian orthodox Churches/ monistaries.. and so what if history states that serbians are "russians" who said they wernt... in the 6th century people came down from russia and settled in the south land and later were called the south slavs, and those wernt only serbians it was most of the people living in Yugoslavia, and wars and such seperated them later, into different religions and nationalities.. and if u prove to me that "kosovo" was albanian then WOWWW history must reallllyyy be wrong huh. tell me a site that states that, or a book whatever else you want...

and by the waY your question is wrong. Serbians didnt slaughter and kill albainas for no damn reason. When albanians started becoming the mijority of course there were riots and what not, but can NOT tell me that Serbians Just slaughtered all the Albanians and the Albanains just stood there and watched, it was a war, everyone was killing everyone, and albanians would not be the mijority right now, if the US didnt put their nose in other countires bussines, when NATO bombed serbia all the serbians left from Kosovo, DUHHH its either leave or get killed, and when they all left Albanians became the mijority. Yes there is both sides of the story, there always is, there is the Albanian Side and then there is the serbians side, but like i said prove to me that kosovo ever belonged to albanians besides now,, before 1999, everr in history, give me any site and book ill read it. However i can give u a million sites and facts and books, you just give me ONE.

[jOVANA GROZDANIC]

In 2000 BC, the Illyrians settle in the Balkan peninsula. The present day Albanians like to refer to them as their predecessors, which is highly controversial and doubtful to say the least ( SEE COME ONE NOW U DIDNT REALLY BELIEVE THAT DID U?)
In the late 6th and early 7th Centuries various Slavic tribes including Serbs settle in the region
After accepting Christianity in 874 from Constantinopolis, first Serb Christian Kingdom is established in the 9th Century which is centered in Kosovo
In the 14th Century Serb Kingdom reaches its peak when it turns into an Empire under Czar Dusan, stretching from Belgrade to 20km North of Athens and from Drina to Plovdiv. Capital city of the Empire is Prizren, second largest city in Kosovo in which according to the latest statistics seven Serbian families remain.
On June 28th in the year of 1389 at the Battle of Blackbirds or “Kosovo Polje”, mainly Serbian force together with some Croats and Hungarians under the Supreme Commander of Serbian Prince Lazar are defeated by invading Islamic Ottoman Turks.
OK SO NOW U GIVE ME A FACT OR A SITE OR SOMETHINGGGG ANYYTHINGGG THAT KOSOVO EVER BELONGED TO ALBANIANS, AND DONT GIVE ME NOONE OF THAT ILLYRIAN SHIT, U KNOW U DONT BELIVE THAT AND NITHER DO THE HISTORIANS

[Mark]

Kosovo, not Kosova.

"Kosovo" is a place name, more fully "kosovo polje", meaning the 'field (or plain) of blackbirds'. "Kosovo Polje" lies just outside the city of Prishtina.

Ornithology lesson: Among North Americans, Australians, and South Africans, only ornithologists can identify the species in question. Kosovo's "black bird" is no crow, nor raven, no starling nor grackle, but "turdus merula", European cousin of the North American rusty-bellied thrush ("turdus migratorius"), which Yanks call the "robin".

In Britain and Ireland "robin" is the name of another species, "erithacus rubecula". (The "four and twenty 'blackbirds' baked in a pie", of the English rhyme, were of the species "merula", in Serbian called "kos". From this term "kosovo" is the derived possessive adjective.

Like America's harbinger of spring, the black bird called "kos" in Serbian language sings sweetly in the springtime and early summer.

For North Americans the feel of the Serbo-Croatian place name "Kosovo" can only be had from a free translation, "Field of Robins".

Albanians have borrowed the word from the Serbs, whose once overwhelming majority was driven down, especially since the Congress of Berlin, by savage aggression from Albanians incited then and in WW I by Austria-Hungary and Germany, in World War II by Mussolini's puppet Albanians, and after WW II by the discriminatory ethnic cleansing of the Stalinist dictator Josip Broz.

Native Indian place names in America have no meaning in English: e.g. "Michigan" means nothing in English. In Ojibwa "mishshikamaa" means "it is a big lake".

Just so the place names of Ireland have transparent meaning in Gaelic but are meaningless tags in the colonialist English, e.g. "Dublin" is Gaelic "dubh lin" 'black pool', and "Kildare" is "cil dara" 'church of the oak'. Just so the names of the Serbian province of Kosovo are clear Serbian formations, but have no meaning in the Albanian language.

Proof of the Serbian origin of the name and the loanword status of the immigrant Albanian term is that the word "Kosovo" has a clear etymology to anyone who knows a Slavic language, while Albanian "Kosova" is an opaque, meaningless place name in the Albanian language

[vjolca]

it is kosova not kosovo

[Moa]

KOSOVO I METOHIJA.

KosovO.

[Shqiptare]

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE KOSOVA!
Please,everyone read what these guys are saying.....

Justice for Kosovo – Chance for Serbia

By Andrej Nosov and Dragan Popovic

After the declaration of independence of Kosovo and the "spontaneous" reaction of "rage and anger" depicted in the Prime Minister's words, demolished Embassies, public lynching of those with different political opinions, as well as the declarative call to "peace and peaceful protests", Serbia has hit rock bottom. It is less of a problem that in the previous decades we have gotten used to seeing violence, living in it every day and doing it spontaneously to people around us. It is more of a problem that the state politics of Slobodan Milosevic, the politics of violence, has officially returned as the main, driving force, that on which there is a consensus even of the democratic Presedent Tadic, and almost President Nikolic and all the other actes gathered around the leader of the defense of Kosovo, Vojislav Kostunica.

This rock bottom, and this fear that every normal citizen feels regarding what is going to happen the next day, is actually another big chance that we are once again missing. It is a chance for the society in Serbia to face their errors of judgement, to reconsider the politics of the past few decades, to look back and draw the line underneath the decade of conquest, murder, ethnic cleansing, terror over their own citizens and the inhabitants of the region. Kosovo has not been under the rule of Serbia since the day Slobodan Milosevic ended his project by retreating the army and police forces from Kosovo. The politics of conquering territories and nineteenth-century centralistic nationalism is facing a breakdown. Whether it will take something else on its way down, depends on the elite groups in Serbia. Or maybe new politics will arise in its place, appropriate for the modern age, based on cooperation and respect.

Everyone is in wonder because 17 February has happened to us, because there was a celebration and declaration of something we knew had happened in June 1999. Everyone makes excuses for violent behaviour, ancient rights and other mythologies by "our" right to rule "them". Breaking things in Belgrade, they say, is not much in relation to what has happened to us. They talk of cultural heritage, NATO bombing, the Serbs that died in Kosovo. There is no mention of the Albanians except as "separatists, terrorists, immature people, uncivilized snatchers of our land". Everyone is silent about Albanians. Because, I guess, one does not mention the name of evil. And the evil that Belgrade has done to the Albanians has symbolically ended for them on that very 17 February.

State enemy No 1 is Natasa Kandic, because she dared to sit in the Kosovo Parliament in the name of different values. Some media say that she shouldn't exist. Others have a problem with Sonja Biserko, Biljana Kovacevic Vuco. The rest would be satisfied with banning and destroying LDP or the expedition to the apartment of Ceda Jovanovic and insulting and lynching the politics and citizens which he represents. These steps are well known, Milosevic used them too. Kostunica is now simply applying the matrix he had inherited from his predecessor. Just as he had copied the rhetoric, he also did everything to leave Serbia in the gutter and through fear and terrot enforce the final establishment of the new Russian province, which is obviously his goal.

The last colony in Europe gained its freedom on 17 February 2008. From 1912 Kosovo has been ruled by boot and sabre. The people living there had no say in anything. Military authorities were imposed on them since the occupation. At that time, they were pronounced to be a nation not mature enough for democracy. Instead of a civil state and civil management, they recieved a hoard of officers and officials, mostly the worst ones, sent by punishment to Kosovo. Many testimonies from that time speak of violence, discrimination and collonial behaviour of the new masters towards the Albanian population in the region. While Kosovo was ruled by the army, the intelligence in Belgrade was making plans on how to change the national make-up of the population. The documents of the Serbian Culture Club lead by Slobodan Jovanovic speak of horrible and cruel entertainment of the Serbian national elite. People are refered to as merchandise, something not alive, calculations are made about how many people should move in and move out from different places. The exact same standards will be applied much more efficiently at the end of the 20th century by academics, writers, poets, bishops... "Humane displacement" will become the official politics which will finally result in the creation of Republika Srpska. That is why it is possible today to speak of territory, but not the people, to pledge in Kosovo, but not give pensions to the Albanians, to erase the complete population from the electorial register or the share of free stocks.

The parties changed names, from the National Radical to the League of Communists, from the Socialist Party of Serbia to the Serbian Radical or the Democratic Party of Serbia. The continuity of colonial rule was maintained after the Second World War through military management. Even though the former colonists were forbidden to return to Kosovo, new ones soon arrived. Authority was established through bloody massacres in Drenica and all over Kosovo. Once again there were no "conditions" for civil authorities. The UDBA sovereignly ruled Kosovo until 1966. Many people, rich today, owe their family posessions to the gold stolen from Kosovo Albanians. After the Brioni Plenum there was an ease, but as soon as the ruling circles saw that Kosovo inhabits people who want their rights and who will not reconcile with the existing situation, everything went to the way it used to be. One year after Tito's death, the Yugoslav National Army "establishes order" in the streets of Pristina, Pec, Prizren... The number of killed Albanians has never been revealed. In the end, in 1989, the "easily promised speed" completely overtakes the legitimate politics. The sovereignity of Kosovo is annuled by tanks, martial law is established and a system very similar to apartheid.

During the nineties, if you were an Albanian, you could not live without fear, let alone work in a school, hospital, the police, or government institutions. Even when the Albanians reacted to such a situation with violence, the elite circles in Serbia did not wonder why, but ravaged villages, civillians, women and children. To be an Albanian, male or female, meant a death sentence. Many were saved by some money or gold. For others, there was no way out.

The nineties are a disgrace for Serbain history, and that must be said out loud in reference to Kosovo. Today in Kosovo, as well as Serbia and the other countries in the region, a large number of people is waiting for the answer to the question where their loved ones are, what happened to them, who killed them. Vojislav Kostunica and his security services hide the answer to that question. Boris Tadic surpresses the answer to that question becase of "stability and the future" and tycoon interests. There is no justice for the Serbs either, if we do not tell the others what we have done to them. There will be no other future if we conceal the facts. And it is futile to rant about crimes over Serbs, world injustice, double standards... Ivica Dacic clearly stated on the parliamentary speakers stand that the politics of the nineties has been confirmed once more. When in 1999 revenge and retaliation against the Serbs started, there were no academics or scientists who would look for the cause in the behaviour of the state of Serbia. Or even to be determined according to the 800.000 banished people, mass murders in Meja, Djakovica, Suva Reka, Podujevo, Izbica, Vucitrn... Maybe that would have saved more Serbs than any books written in the name of the defense of Kosovo and such politics. Or any journalist scribblings which announced lynching, which the newspapers are full of these days.

The complete state apparatus was involved in hiding the tracks of mass crimes. Bodies were buried all over Serbia, burned in factories and power plants, sunk into the Danube or Perucac. The policemen, officers, members of National Security, politicians, local tycoons and enterpreneurs, judges and prosecutors, the Government and political parties were involved too. And after all that, Serbia is in wonder. Not a trace of regret, sense of responsibility, readiness to change behaviour. The people directly responsible for Serbia's loss of the right to rule the Kosovo people, today decide our own fate. They will not admit to their mistakes. Instead of that, they will try to tailor the international legislature according to their own dreams. To turn it into a calcified shell which cannot be adjusted to new situations. Because that is how one rules Serbia. That is how laws and constitutions are made here. Full of strong words and phrases, but inapplicable. Legitimately and legally, the democratic and free part of the world estimated that we cannot terrorize our own citizens forever. Maybe Russia or China still can, but that time will soon pass too. Then the people in Chechnya or Tibet will also gain their deserved place in the community of independent nations. The world's decision (at least the better part of it) to recognize Kosovo, should not be taken as punishment by Serbia. It is not a punishment, it is an opportunity. Not only for Serbia, but for the whole world to strengthen the mechanisms of the protection of human rights and more decisively defy the terror of local dictators. From Beijing to Havana, from Teheran to Moscow.

Serbia is obliged to recognize the Republic of Kosovo. To give a hand of friendship to their legally elected representatives, to help them establish a modern, democratic society. Not because we are more advanced or cultured, but because we owe at least that much to the Kosovo society. And through Kosovo, we can open the issue of the society in Serbia. To reconsider all the illusons and false values, reform institutions, start creating a critical conscience in young people, to reverse the value system and set things in their place. Serbia must, from the mistakes of the past, learn the lessons which will take us to building a new society and a different future. By making violence legitimate and attacking people with different political opinions, the authorities are only continuing the old and already seen practice. Those who think that they will destroy critical thinking and the need for different relations with the neigbours in this way, are sadly mistaken. The mass "events of the people" just take us back and create new mistakes which will cost us dearly.

[derant]

How come you guys think that history is 50-60 yeras old?.When you believe something it does not mean it is right or true.Human history is thousand of years old.When you know the history of a nation you will understand the present ( the genocide in Croatia ,Bosnia,Kosova
and you will know the future .Try to read real history that is written by europian historians not influential by politics, by religions or nacionalism not only now but hundreds of years ago .After that you are going to feel less hate a be more human .

[Arberore]

Kosovo or Kosova name fight now is irrelevant my dear Ballkan rooted freinds.... But for the sake of the truth, that land has forever been called DARDANIA( part of ILLYRIAN (ALBANIAN)TERITORY. When Serbs occupied it they called is as someone named Mark explains. If you look at President's Sejdiu's seal DARDANIA is right there in the middle of the Albanian Flag. Anyone ever wondered what it says and why?.
So do not fight about the name KOSOVA now, but let it go and have a good life my dear friends...We are all humans,and in the end we all return to dust. Life is very short. Kosovar Albanians are now free of foreign rule and Serbs should look miles ahead and get used to idea that Serbia is theirs to enjoy, but KOsova-Kosovo,(Dardania) is the land of the Dardans, an Illyrian(Albanian) tribe and theirs to enjoy and help prosper....
Blessings people, blessings...and cool down.. Live your life well so when the day comes, may our dust occupies the deserving place in the thrones of heaven.:-)

[John]

Kosova" or "Kosovo"?
The name "Kosovo"
By: J. P. Maher Ph. D.
Professor Emeritus of Linguistics
Northeastern Illinois University Chicago

"Kosovo" is a Serbian place name, more fully "kosovo polje", meaning the 'field (or plain) of blackbirds'. "Kosovo Polje" lies just outside the city of Prishtina.

Ornithology lesson: Among North Americans, Australians, and South Africans, only ornithologists can identify the species in question. Kosovo's "black bird" is no crow, nor raven, no starling nor grackle, but "turdus merula", European cousin of the North American rusty-bellied thrush ("turdus migratorius"), which Yanks call the "robin".

In Britain and Ireland "robin" is the name of another species, "erithacus rubecula".

(The "four and twenty 'blackbirds' baked in a pie", of the English rhyme, were of the species "merula", in Serbian called "kos". From this term "kosovo" is the derived possessive adjective.

Like America's harbinger of spring, the black bird called "kos" in Serbian language sings sweetly in the springtime and early summer.

For North Americans the feel of the Serbo-Croatian place name "Kosovo" can only be had from a free translation, "Field of Robins".

Albanians have borrowed the word from the Serbs, whose once overwhelming majority was driven down, especially since the Congress of Berlin, by savage aggression from Albanians incited then and in WW I by Austria-Hungary and Germany, in World War II by Mussolini's puppet Albanians, and after WW II by the discriminatory ethnic cleansing of the Stalinist dictator Josip Broz.

Native Indian place names in America have no meaning in English: e.g. "Michigan" means nothing in English. In Ojibwa "mishshikamaa" means "it is a big lake".

Just so the place names of Ireland have transparent meaning in Gaelic but are meaningless tags in the colonialist English, e.g. "Dublin" is Gaelic "dubh lin" 'black pool', and "Kildare" is "cil dara" 'church of the oak',

Just so the names of the Serbian province of Kosovo are clear Serbian formations, but have no meaning in the Albanian language.

Proof of the Serbian origin of the name and the loanword status of the immigrant Albanian term is that the word "kosovo" has a clear etymology to anyone who knows a Slavic language, while Albanian "Kosova" is an opaque, meaningless place name in the Albanian language.

[anita]

i will say to everybodu hoe dont now about kosova,kosova was always and will be always albanian state,and i am telling to serbian people dont dream about kosova please because kosova was not serbian never but albanian.sorry serbia i am really sorry but you lose kosova forever.and albanian people congrutaliation for independed kosova and thank u AMERIKA thank u BILL KLINTON FIRST,XHORXH BUSH en all amerikan people and europian people thank u everybody and god blesd KOSOVA EN AMERIKA,good luck everybody and sorry for serbia hahhahahhahahhahahahhah.

[BalkanUpdate]

Obama made his feeling clear last night at the debate when he was asked to comment what he would do if Russia threatens Kosovo. He said U.S is obligated to defend Kosovo and that he will work with the NATO and E.U to do so. Please watch last nights debate. This talk about Obama being a pro Serb or not a supporter of Kosovo is nonsense. His comments last night are pretty clear. The fact that there are a lot of Serbs in Illinois apparently carries no weight as far as he is concerned. The anti Albanian crowd has been hopelessly hoping that because Obama is running against Clinton, that somehow he will repudiate Clinton’s policy in the Balkans. In fact he said Clinton did a very good job in the Balkans and he agreed with that policy. Still not convinced? Please go watch the debate.

[KosovarAlbanian]

I wanted to say something about the name Kosova.It is not slavic but I think that the name was serbianized because it resembled to a slavic (there are many words that sound same even though they are from different languages, indo-european languages may have similarities). Kosova may be also turkish, why? Because the word KOS is from turkish KOZ that means RUFF (I think it is KLISURA in croatian)and the word OVA that is turkish and it means PLAIN.
The name exsist also in Albania, there are two villages in city of Elbansan, Kosova e madhe (Velika Kosova) and Kosova e vogël (Mala Kosova). We all know that in Albania never lived serbs (neither did in Kosova). It may be slavic but I think that the name was serbianized as I said above it sounded like slavic and serbs called Kosovo (there are many examples of this kind)
So we can say that the name KOSOVA means a place with ruffs and plains. Kosova has truly ruffs and plains.