The importance of names is frequently understated, though it should not be. Names are the most overt expression of a people s cultural and historical heritage, and carry more meaning than meets the eye. In the Balkans, many names are descriptive in nature. The town of Uroshevats in Kosovo was named after the second emperor of medieval Serbia, Urosh the Weak. Then there is a humorous dimension.
Names play an important role in staking political claims.
All of this points to a fairly straightforward conclusion. And yet, for the sake of understanding, one tends to give in to the common usage and forget about accuracy. Because the people of Yugoslavia had been free from imperial domination for almost a hundred years, Western understanding of their languages deteriorated. Misinterpretation of their modified Latin script caused more confusion than the use of Cyrillic, Arabic or Chinese would have. As a coup de grace , language has been used as a weapon of war and hatred.