Otok

Otok is a Slavic word meaning "island" and functions both as a common noun in several South Slavic languages and as a toponym. In Croatian and Slovene, otok denotes an island or a landform surrounded by water; the term is widely used in everyday language and maps to describe maritime islands, river islets and lake islands.

As a place name, Otok appears throughout the Balkans and Central Europe. It designates a variety of settlements ranging from small villages to towns and municipalities, and it is also applied to numerous Adriatic islets and coastal localities. Notable usages include a municipal town in eastern Croatia as well as several coastal and inland communities in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. The name is also found in Poland and the Czech Republic, where it identifies small villages or geographic features.

The toponym typically reflects a settlement’s geographic relationship to water, such as proximity to a river island, peninsula or flooded plain. Otok occurs in historical records and local place-name traditions, and it sometimes features in regional literature, folklore and family names. Because the word is a common element in Slavic toponymy, its specific referent is usually clarified by additional geographic qualifiers (for example, a county, municipality or nearby town).