Kovilj

Kovilj (Ковиљ) is a village located in the Novi Sad municipality, in the South Bačka District of Serbia. It is situated in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 5,599 people (2002 census).

Name

In Serbian, the village is known as "Kovilj" or Ковиљ, in Croatian as "Kovilj", and in Hungarian as "Kabol".

The name of the village derived from Serbian word "kovilj", which is a name for one sort of flower grass.

Geography

The village is divided into Gornji Kovilj (Upper Kovilj) and Donji Kovilj (Lower Kovilj), which were two separate settlements in the past, but today are parts of one single settlement.

History and culture

In the 13th century, a settlement named "Kabul" was mentioned at this location. Other names used for the settlement in the past were "Kaboli" and "Kobila", hence it is presumed that name of the settlement derived from Slavic word "kobila" ("mare" in English).

Donji Kovilj was first mentioned in 1554, and Gornji Kovilj in 1702. Two villages were joined in 1870. Near the village is well known Kovilj Monastery. The monastery was reconstructed in 1705-1707, but according to the legend, it was founded by the first Serb archbishop Saint Sava in the 13th century. There are also two Orthodox churches in the village, from 1824/28 and 1846 respectively.

Historical population

*1961: 5,448
*1971: 5,290
*1981: 5,279
*1991: 5,242

Family names of the villagers

A family names in the village include: Ačanski, Aćimov, Alempić, Anikić, Banić, Basara, Benović, Bjelić, Bozejac, Božoki, Brzić, Cerović, Ćulum, Deliđorđević, Despotov, Dimitrov, Dokić, Dudaš, Đajić, Đisalov, Đukić, Đuragić, Đorđev, Đurđević, Đurić, Erdeljan,Erak, Firić, Frajs, Gaborov, Gaćaš, Gajer, Galogaža, Gavrić, Gladikostić, Gligorić, Glumac, Gojkov, Graorac, Grlić, Grujin, Gvojić, Horvat, Igračev, Ilić, Ilin, Jakšić, Janković, Janjin, Jevrić, Jovanov, Jovanović, Jovičin, Juhas, Jurišić, Katanski, Kikaš, Kojić, Kolarov, Korolija, Kostić, Kostrešević, Košić, Kovač, Kurtinović, Kuzmanović, Lacković, Lalić, Lazić, Lekić, Letić, Ljubojević, Makarić, Makarin, Maksimović, Malešević, Marcikić, Mareščuk, Marinkov, Marinković, Marković, Martinov, Matić, Mihajlović, Mijatov, Miladinov, Milanović, Milić, Milivojev, Milošević, Miškić, Miškov, Mitrovčan, Moravac, Mušicki, Nedić, Nenadov, Nešin, Nikolaš, Nikolić, Novakov, Novoselac, Obradović, Obrenov, Panić, Paunić, Pavkov, Pavlica, Pavlov, Pavlović, Penić, Pešić, Petrović, Plavšić, Popić, Popov, Popović, Poptešin, Predojević, Preradović, Prodanov, Pušić, Radanić, Radojčević, Radojčić, Radović, Rajnić, Repić, Ruski, Samočeta, Savić, Savin, Simin, Skorupan, Somborac, Stankov, Stanojev, Stojanov, Stojić, Stojinov, Stojkov, Stojković, Stojšin, Subić, Subotin, Svinčak, Šaponjac, Šeguljski, Šijak, Šovljanski, Švedić, Tešić, Trkulja, Uglješ, Varenika, Velček, Vernački, Veselinović, Višnjičar, Vlaović, Vlaškalić, Vojnović, Vujičić, Vujković, Vukašinović, Vukov, Vuković, Vulić, Zagorčić, Zaov, Živankov, Živanov, etc.

Famous people

* Laza Kostić (1841-1910), a Serb literate. He was born in Kovilj.
* Dragan Stojinov, Master of Business Administration, lives in Germany, CEO and Former of the b2next cosulting Ltd. and Co-Former of the new European Academy for Applied Technology (EAAT)

References

*Slobodan Ćurčić, Broj stanovnika Vojvodine, Novi Sad, 1996.
*Milorad Grujić, Vodič kroz Novi Sad i okolinu, Novi Sad, 2004.

ee also

* Novi Sad
* List of places in Serbia
* List of cities, towns and villages in Vojvodina

External links

* [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/YI/2/Kovilj.html Kovilj]
* [http://www.personalmag.co.yu/blog/?postid=763 Manastir Kovilj - Kovilj monastery]