Dahija and daija - "A tyrant" and "A hero"

The noun dahija „head of the janissary; tyrant“ is present in Serbian primarily as a title of the characters from the popular epic poetry and literature from the 19th century, although it is not frequently used in the standard language any more. A form daija „hero, knight“, on the other hand, is attested only in two Serbian dialectal dictionaries from the region of Kosovo and Metohija. The paper analyzes forms, meanings and the etymology of those two words. Discussed are the reasons for the appearance of the non-etymological h in the widespread form dahija. Enlightened are historical, cultural and linguistic circumstances that lead to the borrowing of these two words in different, even opposite, meanings. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, 148004: Etimološka istraživanja srpskog jezika i izrada Etimološkog rečnika srpskog jezika