C1 — advancedculture40 words
The Serbian cultural canon
| Serbian | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Vȗk Kàradžić | Vuk Karadžić (the language reformer and collector of folk songs) |
| Vȗkova refòrma | Vuk’s reform (built on ‘write as you speak’) |
| ćirìlica | the Cyrillic script, Cyrillic alphabet (one of Serbian’s two) |
| latìnica | the Latin script, Latin alphabet (Serbian’s other script) |
| Ándrić | Andrić (Ivo Andrić, the writer; Nobel Prize in Literature 1961, naš nobelovac) |
| Na Drȉni ćùprija | The Bridge on the Drina (Andrić’s best-known novel) |
| nòbelovac | a Nobel laureate |
| Pávić | Pavić (Milorad Pavić, the author of Dictionary of the Khazars) |
| Hàzārskī rȇčnīk | Dictionary of the Khazars (Pavić’s novel in the form of a lexicon) |
| Kȉš | Kiš (Danilo Kiš, the author of A Tomb for Boris Davidovich) |
| Cȑnjānskī | Crnjanski (Miloš Crnjanski, the poet and novelist, author of Migrations) |
| Selímović | Selimović (Meša Selimović, the author of Death and the Dervish) |
| Njȅgoš | Njegoš (Petar II Petrović Njegoš, the poet and Prince-Bishop of Montenegro) |
| Gȍrskī vijénac | The Mountain Wreath (Njegoš’s poem, written in ijekavian) |
| Nȕšić | Nušić (Branislav Nušić, the comic playwright still staged today) |
| Dèsānka Maksímović | Desanka Maksimović (one of the most widely read Serbian poets) |
| Dòsitej Obrádović | Dositej Obradović (the eighteenth-century Enlightenment writer) |
| Svȇtī Sáva | Saint Sava (the first Serbian archbishop, patron of schools) |
| národnā knjìževnōst | oral folk literature, folk literature (songs, tales, proverbs) |
| ȅpskā pȅsma | an epic song, an epic poem (sung to the gusle) |
| ȇp | an epic |
| desetèrac | the decasyllable (the ten-syllable line of Serbian epic verse) |
| gùslār | a gusle player (a bard of the epic) |
| Mȃrko Kràljević | Prince Marko, Marko Kraljević (the hero of Serbian epic song) |
| hàjdūk | an outlaw rebel (a hajduk of Ottoman times, a hero of folk epic) |
| Kȍsovskī bȏj | the Battle of Kosovo (1389, the subject of an epic cycle) |
| kȍlo | a round dance (kolo, the Serbian folk dance); a round (of a league) |
| sevdàlīnka | a sevdalinka (a slow, melancholy urban love song from Bosnia) |
| stȁrogrādskā mùzika | old urban song (the turn-of-the-century repertoire of kafanas) |
| tȕrbo-folk | turbo-folk (the pop genre built on folk tunes and electronic beats) |
| trúba | a trumpet |
| frùla | a shepherd’s flute (the frula, a wooden pipe) |
| Kùsturica | Kusturica (Emir Kusturica, the film director; two Palmes d’Or) |
| Gȕča | Guča (the village and its annual brass-band festival) |
| Ȅxit | the Exit festival, Exit (held in Novi Sad from 2000 to 2025) |
| NIN-ova nagrada | the NIN Prize (the main Serbian award for the novel of the year) |
| Màtica sȓpskā | Matica srpska (the oldest Serbian cultural society, in Novi Sad) |
| SANU | SANU, the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti) |
| Kalemègdan | Kalemegdan (Belgrade’s fortress and park above the Sava and the Danube) |
| Skadàrlija | Skadarlija (Belgrade’s old bohemian street of kafanas and live music) |
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