The name of Austria

[Phlegmak]

What is the Austrian name for their own country? It couldn't be Österreich could it? That just looks like "other kingdom" or "other nation." I know Österreich is used in Germany as the name for Austria, but what is the name of Austria in Austria?

 

[Grisu]

nope, the Austrians call it Österreich as well. it's supposed to be derived from "Ostarrîchi" which apparently means something like "Ostreich" or Eastern Kingdom

 

[The Last Conformist]

"Österreich". Öster- means "east".

 

[CruddyLeper]

And Reich means Empire.

Austro-Hungarian Empire was pretty big.

 

[Winner]

The German name Österreich can be translated into English as the "eastern realm", which is derived from the Old German Ostarrîchi. Reich can also mean "empire", and this connotation is the one that is understood in the context of the Austrian/Austro-Hungarian Empire, Holy Roman Empire, although not in the context of the modern Republic of Österreich. The term probably originates in a vernacular translation of the Medieval Latin name for the region: Marchia orientalis, which translates as "eastern borderland", as it was situated at the eastern edge of the Holy Roman Empire, that was also mirrored in the name Ostmark applied after Anschluss to Germany.

Austria was the eastern part of Frankish Empire, the name probably originates in that time.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

We call it Österreich (yes, we speak German, although with accent and some unique words) which stems from Ostarrichi as stated before.

Otoh we also refer to it as the "Green Heart of Europe" or "The better Germany"

 

[Enkidu Warrior]

It's a fairly standard name for a country. For example, China (中&#22269 simply means middle country or central country.

 

[Grisu]

"The better Germany"

well, that's not much of an achievement :mischief



(yes, I'm just kidding)

 

[Che Guava]

nope, the Austrians call it Österreich as well. it's supposed to be derived from "Ostarrîchi" which apparently means something like "Ostreich" or Eastern Kingdom

Eastern Kingdom? East of what? It must be odd to have a country that defines itself by where it is relative to its neighbours. Luckily I live in Canada

 

[Grisu]

btw, "Canada" sounds like an austrian saying: "nobody there"

and don't forget: the earth wasn't always round so "east" used to be a accurate description of a place...

 

[The Last Conformist]

And Reich means Empire.

Austro-Hungarian Empire was pretty big.

And came into being many centuries after Austria received its name.

 

[warpus]

Eastern Kingdom? East of what? It must be odd to have a country that defines itself by where it is relative to its neighbours. Luckily I live in Canada

Hey, not all country names make sense. 'Canada' itself is derived from a Huron-Iroquoian term meaning 'village'.

 

[kronic]

"The better Germany"

You're certainly better at exports.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Eastern Kingdom? East of what? It must be odd to have a country that defines itself by where it is relative to its neighbours.

East of the main part of Francia. Ostarrîchi was originally a margraviate on the eastern frontier of the Frankish realm.

 

[MamboJoel]

We call it Autriche, pretty far away from "Öster Reich".

 

[Phlegmak]

It seems a lot like the English word "Austria" is a name given to a country which had no name. Eastern Empire doesn't sound like a real name in my opinion.

 

[Mise]

"Eastern Empire" is no more weird than the "United States"

 

[Grisu]

It seems a lot like the English word "Austria" is a name given to a country which had no name. Eastern Empire doesn't sound like a real name in my opinion.

and United States of America is?

edit: damn you Mise

 

[The Last Conformist]

It seems a lot like the English word "Austria" is a name given to a country which had no name. Eastern Empire doesn't sound like a real name in my opinion.

Austria is a Latinization of Österreich - "austr-" is a Latinization of the Germanic root for "east" (influenced by Latin australis "south"), and the ending "-ia", common in names of countries, was in medieval Latin used to translate Germanic ending like -land and -richi.

The English were too lazy to invent their own name for the place, so they just adopted the Latin.

"Autrich" looks like a francification of "Ostarrîchi", but I don't know if that's actually the case.

 

[Che Guava]

East of the main part of Francia. Ostarrîchi was originally a margraviate on the eastern frontier of the Frankish realm.

It's just funny to me that a country (even empire) names themselves as 'east of francia', as though they concede that the important things are really going on further west.

"Eastern Empire" is no more weird than the "United States"

Or Canada, which my television told me is a terrible mistranslation of the Huron-Iroquois word for village....