Meanings
- A major river in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
At the far end, they would be greeted by the green sun-dappled waters of the Bosna as they gurgled up in streams and pools dotted with islands.
2022, Priscilla Morris, Black Butterflies, Duckworth, page 70
Origin
From Serbo-Croatian Босна. The river is possibly mentioned for the first time during the 1st century AD by Roman historian Marcus Velleius Paterculus under the name Bathinus flumen. Another basic source that is associated with the hydronym Bathinus is the Salonitan inscription of the governor of Dalmatia, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, where it is said that the Bathinum river divides the Breuci from the Osseriates. Another name could also have been Basante. According to philologist Anton Mayer, the name Bosna could be derived from Illyrian Bass-an-as(-ā), which would be a diversion of the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰegʷ, meaning "the running water."
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic بُوسْنَة
- بُوسْنَة (būsna)river in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgarian Бо́сна
- Бо́сна (Bósna)river in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Greek Μπόσνα
- Μπόσνα (Bósna)river in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Hindi बोस्ना
- बोस्ना (bosnā)river in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Latin Bathinus
- Bathinusriver in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Portuguese Bosna
- Bosnariver in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Turkish Bosna
- Bosnariver in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
Bosna. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bosna
“Bosna.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bosna. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Bosna,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bosna.
Source: Bosna on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.