Pepravci

Pepravci is a term found in several South Slavic languages used to refer to people who arrange and carry out the movement of goods and passengers between locations. The word is generally understood as an agent noun derived from the verb prepraviti, meaning to transport, transfer, or move across. The form pepravci denotes plural actors or workers involved in transport tasks.

Usage and scope: In historical and regional sources, pepravci often described those who organized and performed transport operations, including ferry operators, cart drivers, boatmen, and porters. They could act as intermediaries between merchants, markets, and authorities, coordinating loading, unloading, and crossings, sometimes within local or municipal regulations. In some contexts the term also referred to informal networks of people who facilitated overland or riverine movement of goods.

Historical significance: Pepravci appear in archival documents and literary texts as part of the infrastructure that enabled trade and travel before the advent of modern transportation. Their roles illustrate how communities managed the logistics of moving commodities, people, and tolls in medieval and early modern settings.

Contemporary usage: In modern standard language, pepravci is rarely used outside historical, dialectal, or literary contexts. More common terms for related roles include contemporary equivalents for carrier, transporter, or ferryman in the respective language, while pepravci may be encountered as a historical label or in scholarly discussions of transport history.

See also: carrier, transporter, ferryman, portage.