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"Kosova" is how 93 percent of its inhabitants call "Kosovo" — or, rather, "the Kosovo", since it is the definite form of the word. Many Balkan experts also use it throughout the world to signal their knowledge of the subject, which has led them to support independence.

When Persia decided to call iself "Iran" or Ceylon "Sri Lanka", everyone followed suit. It didn't work with Finland (—"Suomi") or Georgia (— "Sakartvelo"), but a change of name may take place when the independence of Kosovo is recognized at long last.

Yet the word is of Slavic origin. Although the Serbs only started invading Kosovo at the end of the 12th century, Slavic invaders had become a majority there by the turn of the 10th — it was part of the Bulgarian kingdom of Macedonia. Yet it did have an Albanian, or proto-Albanian name in ancient times: "Dardania" — from a word which gave the Albanian "dardha", "the pear" or "the pear-tree".