Bunjevac
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Unknown; those in Serbia declaring themselves either as Bunjevci or Croats) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Serbia | 16,706 (2011 census) |
| Hungary | about 1,500 (2001 census) |
| Languages | |
| Serbo-Croatian (Bunjevac dialect) | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other South Slavs | |
Bunjevci (Serbo-Croatian pronunciation: [bǔɲeːʋtsi], [bǔːɲeːʋtsi]) are a South Slavic ethnic group living mostly in the Bačka region of Serbia (province of Vojvodina) and southern Hungary (Bács-Kiskun county, particularly in the Baja region). They presumably originate from western Herzegovina, from where they migrated to Dalmatia, and from there to Lika and Bačka in the 16th and 17th century. Bunjevci who remained in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as those in modern Croatia, today maintain that designation chiefly as an ethno-regional identity, and often declare themselves as Croats.
Bunjevci are Roman Catholic, and speak a Serbo-Croatian dialect with Ikavian pronunciation and with certain archaic characteristics. During the 18th and 19th century, they formed a sizable part of the population of northern Bačka, but many of them were gradually assimilated into Hungarians.
The Bunjevci are a South Slavic ethnic group, Catholic by religion, and Shtokavian-Ikavian by dialect, of which majority live in the Bačka region in Serbia and Bács-Kiskun county in Hungary.
There are several theories about the origin of their name. The most common is that the name derives from the river Buna in central Herzegovina, their hypothesised ancestral homeland before their migrations. This etymology was first proposed by Fr. Marijan Lanosović and supported by Vuk Karadžić, Rudolf Horvat, Ivan Ivanić, Ivan Antonović, István Iványi, and Mijo Mandić. Another theory is that the name comes from the term Bunja, a traditional stone house in Dalmatia.
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