Bunë

• Buenë — archaic
• Bojanë — rare, proscribed

The origin of the hydronym boasts a good amount of discussion due to its historical importance to Albania.

Attested as Latin Boiana (1396), Buena (1406), Middle Low German Buyona (1497), Italian Baiana (1515) as well as modern Serbo-Croatian Bojana / Бојана, and in antiquity as Latin Barbanna.^[1]

Çabej derives it from boenë (“river flood”) (standard and Shkodër), buenë (“stream, brook”) (Dukagjin), bujenë (“deep pool of water in a river”) (Malësi e Madhe), bujanë (“deep place in a river”) (standard and Cham), bujan (“pond alimented by the water of a spring”) (Piqeras), all of which may be a derivation of ujë prefixed with mbi, hence a formation parallel to mbujak (“which is under water”).^[2] The river is known to have changed its course multiple times in history and have caused numerous floods, and although the riverbed is now partly flanked with dams, the area of the Church of Saint Sergius, located right on the bank of the river, is still occasionally flooded.^[3]

Jokl, as many others citing him, considers it a borrowing from local provincial Latin Barbanna, assuming a preform *Báuanna after dissimilation of the r before preceding nn and stress shift, which also happened in Durrës.^[4]

• IPA^(key): /ˈbunə/
  • Rhymes: -unə
• (Shkodër) IPA^(key): [ˈbũːn]

Bunë f (definite Buna)

1. Buna (a river in Albania and Montenegro)
   • 1685, Pjetër Bogdani, Cuneus Prophetarum, NT 1.3.5, page 12:

     Drini, e Buena, cur dalenè jasctè Brigietscit se tȣnè […] giξξehere ezine, e janè mate turbuλa

     [Drini e Buena kur dalenë jashtë brigjetshit së tynë […] gjithëherë ecinë e janë ma të turbulla]

     The Drin and the Buna, when they leave their shores […] always flow and are more turbid

• Lumi i Bunës on the Albanian Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^sq