Name of Bosnia
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The name of Bosnia is commonly used in English language as an exonym Bosnia, representing the South Slavic common endonym Bosna (or "Босна" in Cyrillic script). The name was first recorded during the 10th century, in the Greek form Βόσονα, designating the region.[1] In following centuries, the name was used as a designation for a Bosnian medieval state. After the Ottoman conquest in 1463, the name continued to be used as a designation for the Sanjak and Eyalet of Bosnia. After the Austro-Hungarian occupation in 1878, the region of Bosnia was reorganized and the name of its region of Herzegovina incorporated into the dual name of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
From the name of Bosnia, various local terms (demonyms), depending on era, have been derived designating its population, from endonym Bošnjani during the 14th and 15th century to Bosniak during the Ottoman period, with various Turkish-language variations of the root Bosna were used as demonyms (such as Turkish: Boşnak, Bosnali, Bosnavi). Terms like "Bosniaks" or "Bosniacs" (Bošnjaci) and "Bosnians" (Bosanci) were also used as common demonyms, denoting all Slavic inhabitants of Bosnia, regardless of their religion. By the end of the 20th century, the demonym Bosniak(s) was chosen by the Bosnian Muslims as an ethnonym; they are since known as ethnic Bosniaks.