Some medieval titles in the toponymy of Serbia

Abstract

The paper deals with the place name Šepšin, designating a village in Serbia situated to the south of Belgrade, near the town of Mladenovac. According to the testimony of the Turkish 16^th century tax registers, its modern form developed via Šemšin from the first recorded Šemčin (1528). On the assumption that the initial Š- derives from S- through the assimilation of the type šiče < siče ‘hisses’, the original form of the name may be reconstructed as *Sěmčijin, a possessive adjective derived from Old Serbian title sěmьčija. The underlying term, a hapax attested in the Banjska charter from 1316, is assumed to be the same as Old Church Slavic samъčii ‘prefect’, which is probably a loanword from Proto-Bulgarian. In that case, the ě of the Old Serbian variant may be due to the influence of Common Slavic *sěmь ‘family’. In addition, another place name from the same region is reconsidered, Hrčin, today Vrčin, which displays a similar derivation. It has been variously interpreted so far, but by analogy with *Sěmčijin a proto-form *Hrtčijin seems rather probable, deriving from the unattested title *xъrtьčii, which presumably designated an official at court charged with greyhounds (xъrti) and generally with hunting. In both cases the masculine adjective in -in may have originally referred to potok ‘creek’ or dol ‘valley’ as a part of the feudal estate held by the official in question.