The name is derived from the name of the region's most important fort, Ras which first appears in the work de aedificiis of Byzantine Procopius as Arsa prior to the forming of Serbia (Procopius, De aedificiis, IV 4). Ras eventually became the capital district and seat of the first bishopric of Serbia (the Eparchy of Raška and Prizren). The name of the bishopric eventually started to denote the entire area under jurisdiction and later, under Stefan Nemanja, Ras was re-generated as state capital and as such it has at times been used by some[who?] in historiography to refer to Serbia from the early 12th to the early 14th century.[citation needed] It had began its use as an exonym for Serbia in Western European sources in the early 13th century,[citation needed] along with other names such as Dalmatia and Slavonia. The first attested appearance of the name Raška is in the Kotor charter (1186), in which Stefan Nemanja is mentioned as župan of Raška. Soon after Raška (Rascia) became an exonym for Serbia in western sources (Papacy, German, Italian, French etc.) often in conjunction with Serbia (Servia et Rascia). However, that name appears scarcely in medieval Serbian and never in Byzantine works to denote the state.
Between the 15th and 18th centuries, the term Raška (Rascia, Ráczság) was used to designate the southern Pannonian Plain inhabited by Serbs (Raci), who settled there during the late Middle Ages, the Ottoman period and the Great Serb migrations from medieval Serbia, "Rácz" has survived as a common surname in Hungary
Originally Posted by Sorab
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