Serbians


Serbians is a national demonym for citizens of Serbia, regardless of ethnicity, majority of whom are ethnic Serbs. In Serbian, however, Srbijanci is used for ethnic Serbs from Serbia, or in a narrower sense, Serbs from Central Serbia. The term thus excludes ethnic Serbs in the neighboring countries, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and North Macedonia, for which the term Srbin is used. In English, the two are commonly used interchangeably, with the term "Serbians" sometimes erroneously applied to ethnic Serbs outside Serbia. Likewise, the term "Serbs" has been erroneously applied to all citizens of Serbia regardless of their ethnicity.
The term and usage of Srbijanci is controversial in Serbian-speaking areas. In Croatian usage, Srbijanci are all citizens of Serbia regardless of ethnicity, while Srbi is the term for ethnic Serbs, including Serbs of Croatia. The term itself is mostly used in Croatia and province of Vojvodina. It has been noted that this type of demonym and distinction between ethnicity and nationality are only found in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia as opposed to other European countries, even other former Yugoslav republics.
In the 1852 Serbian Dictionary, the entry includes the following:
A popular Serbian folk song contains a chorus "...jelek, anterija, and opanci, is how you recognize a Srbijanac...", describing the Serbian folk costume.
Variant terms like Old Serbians and Southern Serbians were used as designations for populations from historical regions of Old Serbia, and Vardar Macedonia respectively.

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