My Interpretation of the Croatian Toponyms
The Salt Lake
on the Mljet Island.
It's sometimes suggested
that the islands
were once the places richest
in toponyms, because people
had to use
every single source of
fresh water and every single
piece of fertile land.
ATTENTION: Some of the opinions stated in the following text are contrary to the mainstream science. I will not advise you to read it if you don't have a substantial background in linguistics. I am not a conspiracy theorist who wants to bombard people with controversial statements they don't know how to evaluate. If you are ready to read it, click here.
SUMMARY: It will be argued that it is impossible that the Illyrian language died out in ancient times, as the mainstream historical linguistics claims, but that it is nearly certain that it, despite never being attested, died relatively recently and that many, if not most of the, Croatian toponyms come from it. The main argument for that is that, if the toponyms came from the Croatian language, most of them would make sense to those who speak Croatian, yet the vast majority of them don't. Alternative etymologies are proposed for around 100 toponyms in or on the borders of Croatia. Some basic vocabulary of Illyrian is reconstructed, the most certain words are: *issa~iasa, meaning "source of a health-giving water", presumably coming from the Indo-European root meaning "boiling" or "spring", *karr~kurr, meaning "to flow", presumably from a Pre-Indo-European substrate language and cognate to the Late Latin fish names "carpa" and "carassius", *kull~kl meaning "mountain", presumably from the Indo-European root meaning "high", *mar~mur, meaning "marsh", almost certainly from the Indo-European root meaning "marsh" or "sea", *api, meaning "water", from the Indo-European root meaning "body of water", the word *pis~pik meaning "coniferous forest", almost certainly related to the Latin word "pix" (resin), and the word *melit~malit, meaning "sea island", probably of Pre-Indo-European origin. The evidence is consistent enough that some grammatical features of Illyrian can also be inferred, such as the /a/~/u/ ablaut. My conclusion is that Illyrian was a centum Indo-European language with some specific sound changes, such as *bh turning to /p/ in some conditions (perhaps only before 'a') and into /β/ (voiced bilabial fricative) in others, *kj turning to /j/ (the semi-vowel) in front of a nasal, *gj turning into /x/ (velar fricative) in at least some conditions, *kw turning into /k/, single consonants being geminated after a short vowel (presumably because all the syllables had to be of equal length), the diphthongs *ew and *ey monophthongized into long /i/, syllabic consonants turning into /i+C/, the initial laryngeals being preserved as /e/ (presumably because of a word-initial accent), in the later stages of Illyrian (when Illyrian names and words were attested in historical documents), 'e' turning to 'i' in front of 'r'+consonant and, in the last stages of Illyrian (as evident from some names borrowed into Croatian from Illyrian), simplification of consonant clusters into geminate consonants ('rb'>'rr' and 'nd'>'nn'). The reconstructed grammar is then exemplified by translating the Lord's Prayer into Illyrian.
Croatian is a Slavic language. However,
I think there aren't actually that many Slavic toponyms in Croatia.
If there were, they would make sense to those who speak Croatian, and
the vast majority of them don't. Many of the toponyms commonly accepted
to be Croatian in origin don't even sound (phonotactically) Croatian,
such as Delnice (the cluster -eln-, in native Croatian words,
the 'l' in -iln- and -eln- gets vocalized into 'o',
such as in "čeoni", derived from "čelo", or "dionica", derived from
the verb "dijel-i-ti"). So, I argue that attempts to explain
the Croatian toponyms without an obvious etymology with Slavic roots
is, in fact, a very flawed method, and I attempt to reconstruct a
language of the ancient Croatian toponyms (the Illyrian language) and
explain the toponyms using it.
To give you an example, Issa, the
ancient name for the island of Vis, isn't explicable by Latin or
Greek, and is widely stated to have an unknown, perhaps
Pre-Indo-European etymology. But here is a clue: there were some
quite strong springs there in ancient times, that the Roman baths were
getting water from. And wherever there were large Roman baths in
Croatia, the same or similar element repeats. The ancient name for
Daruvar was Balissa and the ancient name for
Varaždinske Toplice was Iasa. There
we have it: *issa~iasa meant "spas" (health-giving springs). And I believe I can
trace that name back to Proto-Indo-European: it probably comes from
*yos (spring, derived from *yes, "to boil") and the collective noun
ending *eh2 (probably pronounced "ah"). The Bal- in Balissa
can be explained as being related to the Latin word bullire (to boil), so that
Balissa means "boiling health-giving springs". Using that knowledge,
we can explain some modern Croatian toponyms without an obvious Croatian
etymology, like Jozinci (assuming an ancient name such as *Iasona,
meaning "on the health-giving spring", in the sense "on the source of salt water",
since salt was believed to have health-giving properties by people of ancient Slavonia).
Namely, Jozinci is a small village near Donji Miholjac. It's known that, in ancient times,
there was a stream of brackish water flowing through Donji Miholjac, but it's
not certain where its source was. It might have very well been in Jozinci
(show/hide details).
By far the most common counter-argument I get is that, if a toponym doesn't come from Croatian, perhaps it comes from some other attested language, the most commonly proposed being Latin. Most of the such proposed etymologies can be easily refuted, click here to see (or hide) how.
Here is a list of
the etymologies of the Croatian toponyms I've supported on the
"Croatian Toponyms" thread linked on the left:
Aenona
(Nin) < *h2ekj-mon (where a lot of stones
are)
Albona (Labin) < *h2elbh
(white). It's unknown what the precise pronunciation of 'b' was, some sources spell it as 'v'. It might have been /β/.
Alma (Fruška Gora) < *h2elm
(fertile)
Almissia (Omiš) < *h2elm-yess (on a
fertile ground)
Andautonia (Zagreb) < *h2en-dheh2-ont-om
(near that which flows). The name Zagreb itself probably means "the God's hill", from the Illyrian word Dzis (God), mentioned on the Messapian inscriptions, and a word related to Proto-Slavic *gora and Sanskrit giri. So, the Illyrian name might have been *Dzigurevos, borrowed into Old Croatian via Vulgar Latin.
Apševci < from an Illyrian name (borrowed directly from Illyrian, not via Vulgar Latin) such as *Apissios, meaning "river island", derived from the Indo-European root *h2ep (water), for the semantics compare the Croatian toponym Otok near Vinkovci. Similar names occur repeatedly in microtoponymy, for instance, near Donji Miholjac there is a field called Apšaldol.
Arsia (Raša river) < *h3rews
(to flow fast)
Asinium (Sinj) < related to Proto-Slavic *asenŭ (ash tree). Or, perhaps even more likely, related to the Hittite word haš (stone), since the same element repeats in the names of other stony places. For instance, the ancient name for Osor was Assarum.
Balissa (Daruvar) < *boll-yos-eh2
(where a lot of health-giving boiling springs are)
Baranja <
some sort of derivation from *mory (marsh), compare also Greek
βορβορος and the ancient (almost certainly Illyrian) name for the river Bojana, "Barbanna" (attested by Titus Livius in Historia Romana in the 44th book and the 31st chapter). The Illyrian name might have been *Barrania, with the first 'a' stressed and long, compare the ancient name for Dinara, "Dindaria" (while the modern name looks like as if it was from *Dinnaria), for the consonant cluster, in this case -rb- to -rr-, simplification.
Biđ (the river) < From an Illyrian name such as *Vōdios, from Proto-Indo-European *wed (wet), borrowed into Old Croatian from Vulgar Latin (therefore, 'v' regularly being borrowed as *b, long 'o' as *y, turning into 'i' in Modern Croatian, and 'di' regularly yotated into 'đ').
Basante, Basuntius (Bosut) < *bel-sewh1-nt (strong
waterer), see "Sutla" and "Sunja" for the sound changes. Modern name obviously comes from the name Basante (attested on Tabula Peutingeriana), rather than Basuntius (attested by Pliny the Elder in the 3rd book in the 28th chapter of Naturalis Historia), it's hard to tell what was the relationship between those two names in antiquity. I'd argue that Basuntius is more original, and that Basante is some form of folk etymology.
Brettia (Brač) < To give some context, Stephanus of Byzantium wrote, in De Urbibus, that "Brettia", the ancient name for the island of Brač, means deer's (Ελαφουσσα) in Illyrian. That makes some sense considering that Strabo also wrote, in the 7th book in the 6th chapter of Geography, that "Brentesium", the ancient name for Brindisi, meant deer's in Messapian (probably a dialect of Illyrian), because its port resembles head of a deer. Also, briedis is the modern Latvian word for deer, so there is a plausible etymology of that Illyrian word. However, Stephanus of Byzantium also wrote that there is a stream (ποταμος) on the island of Brač that's also named "Brettia". It's hard to tell how plausible that is (I am not too familiar with geology), as there are no streams today on the island of Brač. Assuming that's true, that would probably mean that "Brettia" meaning "deer's" is folk etymology, since places are usually named after bodies of water rather than the other way around, and that the name "Brettia" is, in fact, related to names such as Barbanna. Another argument for that is that there is a stream in northern Croatia called Jelenska, it flows into the Lonja River, and the name Jelenska appears to come from the Croatian word for deer, jelen. It makes sense to suppose that's a similar folk-etymology, that Croatians translated an Illyrian name such as Brettia thinking it comes from the Illyrian word for deer, when it fact it's related to the Greek word βορβορος.
Celenae (Orolik) < This name is attested only in the Burdigal (Jerusalem) Itinerary, as a horse market on a steep hill near Cibalae (Vinkovci). Mainstream history places it in Orolik, and that seems like a reasonable assumption. Regarding etymology, my guess is that it is a celestially-themed name, related to Latin caelum, that it means something like road to sky. Such names are relatively common around the world, compare the names such as Babylon (Akkadian for Gate to God), the Chinese place names such as Tiananmen (天安門, Gate of Heavenly Peace, so called because it's on the southern, sunnier, side of the Beijing walls, and the northern gate of the Beijing walls is called Deanmen, 地安門, Gate of Earthly Peace), Tianmenshan (天門山, Mountain of Heavenly Gate), and the name Cheonansi coming from 天安市, Chinese for City of Heavenly Peace.
Cersia (Cres) < *(s)kwer
(cliff)
Certissia (Đakovo) < *(s)ker-yess (on a sharp,
infertile ground)
Cibalae (Vinkovci) < *kjey-bel
(strong house)
Colapis (Kupa) < *kwol-h2ep
("wondering water", river with many meanders)
Dalj < *dhel
(milkmen, the Illyran name might have been *Dillioi)
Daljok (Duboševica) < *dhel (milkmen)
Daurum (Dubrovnik) < *deh2w (fire, in the sense "a place that was built where the forest has been burnt down"). The toponym *Daurum wasn't attested in antiquity per se, but the ancient name for Cavtat (some 10 kilometers from Dubrovnik) was Epi-Daurum ("epi" almost certainly being the Greek prefix meaning "beside"). *Daur- borrowed into Old Croatian would regularly give *Dubr in modern Croatian, for the sound changes compare the ancient name for Bribir, Varuaria (by the way, I think the modern name Varivode could also derive from the ancient name of the near-by place Varuaria, attested by Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historia in book 3 chapter 25, as a later borrowing from Illyran into Croatian). A commonly cited etymology is that "Dubrovnik" comes from the Croatian word "dubrava" (oak forest). Well, first of all, it's not clear why the 'a' would turn to 'o'. It's also not clear why the ktetic would be irregular, people from Dubrovnik are called "Dubrovčani", rather than the expected "Dubrovničani".
Dilj (the mountain) < *delh1
(wide, the Illyrian name might have been *Dilios, if borrowed directly from Illyrian, or *Delios, if borrowed through Latin)
Dindaria (Dinara mountain) < *dent (tooth), the change -nd- to -nn- probably occured in Illyrian after the name Dindaria was attested by Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historia in the 3rd book in the 26th chapter.
Drava (the river) < *drew (to pour)
Dunav (Danube river) < *danu
(river, It's unknown what was the first vowel in Illyrian, because both nasalized 'a', nasalized 'o' and nasalized 'u' turn into 'u' in Croatian)
Eira (perhaps the river Mura, attested in Ravenna Cosmography) < *h1er (to flow)
Ervenica (a stream in Slavonia) < *h3rews
(to flow fast)
Esseg (Osijek) < *h1es-seg (healthy
field)
Histria (the Istria peninsula) < related to Proto-Slavic *ostrovŭ (island), maybe in the sense "people from the island".
Hrvat (Croat) < *ser-h2ekw-ot
(one who lives near a stream), from some language related to Armenian
(where PIE *s gives 'h')
Incerum (Požega) < *h1eyn-kjer
(the heart of the valley)
Iasa (Varaždinske Toplice) <
*yos-eh2 (where a lot of health-giving springs are)
Iovallum
(Valpovo) < *yow-h2elom (magical, health-giving
herb)
Issa (Vis) < *yos-eh2 ("where
health-giving springs are", in reference to the spring which the Roman baths were getting their water from, see the introduction)
Kalnik < *kelh3 (high, the wovel in "Kal-" must have originally been short 'u', reguarly changing to back yer and then to 'a' in Croatian, and there must have been either short 'i' or short 'u' after l, disappearing due to the Havlik's law. So, the Illyrian form was either *Kullunnicos or *Kullinnicos. The toponym was borrowed from Illyrian into Old Croatian after the Third Slavic Palatalization, but possibly before the Second Slavic Palatalization.)
Karašica < from a verb *karr~kurr
meaning "to flow", perhaps of Pre-Indo-European
origin
Kentina (Sinjsko Polje, a name used by Constantine VII in De Administrando Imperio) < *kjem-t-h1eyn
(the valley of horses)
Klek Mountain < *kelh3 (high, the change from *kelk to *klek would be regular in Croatian, because the methatesis of the liquids ended way after the first Slavic palatalization.)
Korana < from a verb *karr~kurr meaning "to
flow", perhaps of Pre-Indo-European origin
Krapina <
from a verb *karr~kurr meaning "to flow", perhaps of
Pre-Indo-European origin, -ap- is probably from the Indo-European root *h2ep (water)
Krbava (likely originally a hydronym) <
from a verb *karr~kurr meaning "to flow", perhaps of
Pre-Indo-European origin
Krka < from a verb *karr~kurr meaning "to
flow", perhaps of Pre-Indo-European origin
Krndija <
*(s)ker-nt (cutting, steep). The Illyrian name might have been *Curindea (compare the ancient name for Krk, Curicum, for the sound changes from Old Croatian to Modern Croatian). The change from Proto-Indo-European *-ent- to Illyrian -ind- is hard to explain, but it's not isolated (if Dindaria comes from *dent).
Lika (likely originally a hydronym, attested in the ancient toponym "Epi-licum")
< *lewk (clear)
Lissa < This toponym was attested in ancient times by Pliny the Elder in Naturalis Historia in 3rd book in the 63rd chapter as "Contra Iader est Lissa.", Iader being the ancient name for Zadar. The mainstream history generally considers that toponym to be a corruption of the ancient name for Pag, Cissa. However, I think that, if Pliny wanted to refer to Pag, he could a lot more appropriately write "contra Aenonam" or, even better, "contra Vegium" (Vegium being the ancient name for Karlobag), rather than "contra Iader". So, I think this toponym, in antiquity, referred to Ugljan. And I think that, in the late stages of Illyrian, that was the generic word for island, whichever root it comes from. Namely, the modern Italian name for Vis is Lissa, and the modern Italian name for Hvar is Lesina. The modern island name Lošinj, unattested in antiquity, could come from that same root.
Mantouna (Motovun) < *men (mountain)
Mariniana (Donji Miholjac) < *mory-h1eyn
(marshy valley)
Marsonia (Slavonski Brod) < *mory-h2en
(a town on a marsh)
Medvednica (the mountain) < from an Illyrian name such as *Menduenda, from the Indo-European root *men (to be high), perhaps exactly cognate to the Latin word mons (genitive singular montis), compare Dindaria for the change from -nt- to -nd-. It shares the same root as the ancient name for Knin, Priamona (attested by Strabo in the 7th book in the 5th chapter of Geography, Pria-mona can be read as in front of a mountain, because it is in front of a mountain when lookng from the seaside) and Mantouna, the ancient name for Motovun.
Moslavina (perhaps originally an oronym) < *megjs (large)
Mosor (the mountain) < *megjs (large)
Mursa (Osijek) < *mory (marsh)
Neretva
< *ner (to dive) It's interesting to note that the names of many rivers that aren't even partly underground come from a word meaning "to dive". For instance, the name of the river Jordan most likely comes from a Phoenician word sharing the same root as Hebrew word יָרַד (yarad), meaning to dive.
Odra < *wodr (water) The Illyrian name might have been *Udra, coming into Croatian via Vulgar Latin, where short 'u' merges with 'o'.
Orljava < *h1or
(spring) The Illyrian name might have been *Arrulia (a river with many springs), coming into Old Croatian via Vulgar Latin, whose 'a' was regularly borrowed as 'o' in Old Croatian and whose long 'u' was regularly borrowed as back yer. The ancient name for Rijeka Dubrovačka, Arion, attested by Pseudoskylax, probably comes from the same root, and so does the ancient name for Dragonja, Argaone (attested in Ravenna Cosmography).
Osseratis (unidentified city near the confluence of the
river Vrbas into Sava) < *h1en-ser-ot (where one
[river] flows into [the other])
Padoma (an ancient place in the highlands on Vis) < *bheh2gjos (beech tree)
Paklenica < *pikj (resin, the change from short 'i' to short 'a' is regular in Croatian when it's affected by the Havlik's law, so the Illyrian name might have been *Picculla)
Pannonia < *pen
(marshland)
Papuk (originally a hydronym spelled "Papugh")
< *bhogj (to flow), the Illyrian name might have been *Pippuhos (that which flows and flows), borrowed into Old Croatian directly from Illyrian, compare the Proto-Indo-European *kwel (to turn)>*kwekwlos (wheel) for morphology.
Parentium (Poreč) <
*por-h1ey-nt-y-om ("around that which flows", river bank)
Permodios (Premuda) < The supperlative form of Proto-Indo-European preposition *per (in front of), so that it means "the first island in the archipelago".
Pharos (Hvar) < related to Proto-Slavic *borŭ (pine wood), the ancient Greek name Πιτυιεα, attested by Apollonius from Rhodos, is probably a translation of the Illyrian name.
Pisinium (Pazin) < *peyH (resin), compare Greek
πισσα and Latin "pinus"
Pisunus (Psunj) < *peyH (resin), compare Greek
πισσα and Latin "pinus"
Plitvice (the lakes) <
*plew (to flow), compare also the German (perhaps borrowed directly from Illyrian) name for the Balaton lake, Plattensee.
Sava (the river) < *sewh1 (to water)
Scardona
(Skradin) < *(s)kwor-dhos (big cliff). The steep Šar mountain in Kosovo was also called Σκαρδον by Ptolemy. However, it's possible it's actually Pelasgian, rather than Indo-European in origin, because similar names with apparently the same meaning appear in Greece. For example, the hill named Σκαρδαμυλα near Sparta and a cliff on the Island of Χιος named Καρδαμυλα (on which a large letter V signifying victory of Allied in World War 2 is painted).
Sčitarjevo < *skewH (shield), in the sense "embankment"
Serapia
(unidentified river in northern Croatia, perhaps Bednja) <
*ser-h2ep (flowing water)
Šibenik < from an Illyrian name such as *Sievennos (borrowed into Old Croatian through Vulgar Latin), perhaps meaning "flax field", derived from *syuh1 (to sew).
Siscia (Sisak) < *sek (to cut), in the sense "where Romans have cut the forest".
Sopje (perhaps from an
ancient name *salapia) < *seh2l-h2ep (salt
lake), so that it's an eponym of the near-by town Slatina (Croatian for "salt lake"), compare "Almissia">"Omiš" for the sound changes.
Sunja (the river)
< *suh1-nt (that which waters the ground), the Illyrian name might have been *Sunneos (with a consonant cluster simplification seen in "Dinara"), the Illyrian nasalized 'u' might have been borrowed as nasalized 'o' in Old Croatian.
Sutla (the river) <
*suh1-nt (that which waters the ground), the Illyrian nasalized 'u' might have been borrowed as nasalized 'o' in Old Croatian.
Tarda (Darda)
< *ters (dry land)
Ulciria (Ujilica) < The same root as Vuka, in the sense "mountain that isn't stony". The modern name is a translation of that name, from Proto-Slavic *ilъ (mud), from the same root as Greek ιλυς. The 'u' in the beginning is from the Croatian word for 'in' or 'into' (similar to how the name Issa became Vis in modern Croatian), 'u', and the suffix '-ica' is the Croatian diminutive suffix.
Una (the river) < *unt (wave, the Illyrian nasalized 'u' could be borrowed as nasalized 'o' into Old Croatian, compare "Andautonia" for the change from Indo-European *nt to 'n' in Illyrian). There are some other cases around the world of a river being named after a word meaning "wave", for instance, the river Vilnia in Lithuania. The name might be even influenced by phonosemantics, because "Una" is the name to numerous rivers around the world, and also the Etruscan word for stream.
Valeriana (Baranja) < *wel-h1er (wet
valley)
Vuka (the river) < *welk (moisture, the change from syllabic 'l' to 'u' is regular in Croatian). The name was attested as Ulcae on Tabula Peutingeriana. The names such as Vukovar, Vučica and Vučedol share the same root.
So, assuming those etymologies are true, it is, of course, possible to deduce quite a few things about the Illyrian grammar (show/hide details).
A question I often get asked is how I know I'm not a victim of the Birthday Paradox, that it's not that the toponyms came from unrelated languages, and that the apparent patterns I see, although they seem unlikely at the first sight, have arisen randomly because such patterns are actually bound to occur. You can see (or hide) my response by clicking here.
Here are the
sound changes I propose happened from Proto-Indo-European to
Illyrian:
[kw]>k
[kj]m>y
[kj]>k
[bh]a>p
[bh]>β
[gj]>gh
[l]s>s
[n]s>s
[m]r>b
[ew]>i
[ey]>i
[e]rC>i
C[l]C>il (perhaps not between all consonants)
0[H]C>e
So,
because of the epenthetic vowel 'e' appearing only in the first
syllable (Ervenica), I suggest that the stress was always on the first syllable.
I also have a temptation to think that the nominative singular
actually ended in -i in Illyrian. The suffix -i- is seen in,
for instance, Serapia, Krndija,
Colapis, and possibly also in Andautonia. I believe that the primary
ablaut changed from e/o in PIE to a/u in Illyrian, for instance,
in the toponyms such as Mursa, Marsonia and Mariniana. The geminates (long consonants, they don't exist in English, but they existed in Latin and were written as double consonants) in
the toponyms such as Issa and Pannonia are probably explicable by
some consonants being doubled after a short vowel, like in Middle English
more or less. It's not quite clear what sound changes the Proto-Indo-European syllabic 'l'
(and therefore probably other syllabic consonants) had undergone. It appears to have been
retained after a 'w' (Vuka, Ulciria), but not after a 'd' (Dilj), where it appears to
have been turned into 'il'. The 'e' turning to 'i' if followed by r+consonant was happening
in the very late stages of Illyrian, the name Certissia is attested in the Antonine Itinerary as
Cirtisia, and the name Sirmium is attested by Polemius Sylvius as Sermium.
The g sound, as far as I know, hasn't been attested in any Illyrian name, and it's possible all the Proto-Indo-European velars merged into one sound. However, this is, among Indo-European languages, unattested, and is therefore unlikely, and the lack of g in attested words and names is probably a coincidence. I think the most common consonants in Illyrian were s and l, for the element *sal~sol appears in at least three meanings: something related to rivers (the ancient name for Jadro River was Sallia, and there are three hydronyms Zala in Slovenia: one is the river that flows from the Fekete To lake on the border with Hungary, one is the river with the waterfall called Kotel, and one is a stream near Železniki), in the word probably meaning exactly "island" (attested in ancient name for Šolta, Solenta, in all likelihood related to the Latvian word sala meaning island), and in the word meaning "salty", attested in the ancient name for the Messapian salt lake Salpi, Salapia, and perhaps in the toponym Sali near the salt lake Mir. I think the word *sal in the meaning river is a borrowing from Pelasgian, because one of the ancient names for the river Peneus in Greece was Σαλαμβριας. It's likely that, under some conditions, Indo-European *s turned to the ʃ (sh in ship) sound in Illyrian, because Pseudo-Scylax wrote the name Solenta as Holynta, and it's a lot more likely somebody would hear the ʃ sound as h than the s sound as h. However, since neither Latin alphabet nor the Greek alphabet had a letter for the ʃ sound, it's hard to tell under what conditions Illyrian s turned to ʃ.
So, here is what I think Pater Noster might have sounded like in Illyrian:
Patir nos, kis divi esi!
Kekluit ennomin teβi!
Essis errehs!
Βuind ki tu vessi
neβesu errike!
Ki nos ne essenti dogi toimi, dodi!
Pagdike likona nos,
kom vike pagmos likettirmos nos.
Sentme ne dirtomos,
solaske inzme tirnomos.
Many, if not most of the, supposed Latin etymologies of the toponyms of modern-day Croatia can be refuted simply by pointing to the basic facts of the historical phonology. They should be the way of establishing the basic rigour in studying the toponyms. Nevertheless, they are only rarely mentioned in the papers about toponyms. Here are the ones that I consider to be most important. Classical Latin long /i/, in Vulgar Latin, turned into a sound similar or identical to the Old Croatian front yer, that later, according to the Havlik's Law (and, in the Chakavian dialect of Croatian, the law that the yers in the first syllable are always vocalized), turned into 'a' (or 'e' in the Kaikavian dialect) or simply disappeared. A beautiful example of that is the toponym 
The result will vary depending on how many times that program is being run, but it will always be approximately the same. So, here are some example sessions:
The Roman Thermae
in Issa (Vis)
were getting the water
from a mineral spring
that doesn't exist
any more.
However, it's possible
that Issa was
named after it,
from the Indo-European
root *yos (spring).