Ostarrîchi
Encyclopedia
The German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 name of Austria, , derives from the Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...

 word . A variant is recorded in the Ostarrîchi Document of 996. This word is thought to be a translation of Latin Marchia Orientalis (eastern borderland) into a local dialect. This was a march, or borderland, of the Duchy of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 created in 976. Reich also means "realm" or "empire", but this is a false cognate
False cognate
False cognates are pairs of words in the same or different languages that are similar in form and meaning but have different roots. That is, they appear to be, or are sometimes considered, cognates, when in fact they are not....

. Ostmark
Ostmark
Ostmark is a German term meaning either Eastern march when applied to territories or Eastern Mark when applied to currencies.Ostmark may refer to:...

, a translation of Marchia Orientalis into standard German, was used officially when the country was annexed
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....

 by Nazi Germany.

The name "Austria" is a latinization of Österreich, which was first recorded in the 12th century. This has led to much confusion as German Ost is "east", but Latin auster is "south".

Etymology

Österreich is derived from Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...

 Ostarrîchi. The term probably originates as a vernacular translation of the Latin
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...

 name (eastern borderland). The ostar- is related to Old High German
Old High German
The term Old High German refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. Coherent written texts do not appear until the second half of the 8th century, and some treat the period before 750 as 'prehistoric' and date the start of...

 ōstan "eastern", but its exact derivation is unclear. Old High German rihhi had the meaning of "realm, domain".

The Marchia orientalis, also called the Bavarian Eastern March
March
March is in present time held to be the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is one of the seven months which are 31 days long....

 (Ostmark
Ostmark
Ostmark is a German term meaning either Eastern march when applied to territories or Eastern Mark when applied to currencies.Ostmark may refer to:...

) and the March of Austria
March of Austria
The March of Austria was created in 976 out of the territory that probably formed the earlier March of Pannonia. It is also called the Margraviate of Austria or the Bavarian Eastern March. In contemporary Latin, it was the marchia Austriae, Austrie marchionibus, or the marcha Orientalis...

 (Marchiam Austriae), was a prefecture of the Duchy of Bavaria
History of Bavaria
The history of Bavaria stretches from its earliest settlement and its formation as a stem duchy in the 6th century through its inclusion in the Holy Roman Empires to its status as an independent kingdom and, finally, as a large and significant Bundesland of the modern Federal Republic of...

. It was assigned to the Babenberg family in 976. The variant Ostarrîchi is known from a single usage dated 996. Later Medieval documents record the word as either Osterrîche (official) or as Osterlant (folk and poetic usage). The variation Osterrîche is first recorded in 998. Marcha Osterriche appears on a deed granted by Emperor Henry IV
Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry IV was King of the Romans from 1056 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 until his forced abdication in 1105. He was the third emperor of the Salian dynasty and one of the most powerful and important figures of the 11th century...

 and dated 1058.

Austrian historian Friedrich Heer
Friedrich Heer
Friedrich Heer was a historian born in Vienna. He received a PhD at the University in Vienna in 1938. Even as a student he came into conflict with pan-German thinking historians as a staunch opponent of National Socialism....

 stated in his book Der Kampf um die österreichische Identität (The Struggle Over Austrian Identity), that the name has an older history, originating with the Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...

 name of Noricum
Noricum
Noricum, in ancient geography, was a Celtic kingdom stretching over the area of today's Austria and a part of Slovenia. It became a province of the Roman Empire...

which Heer takes as No- or Nor- meaning "east" or "eastern", and -rig "realm, dominion", so that both the Latin and the German Ostarrîchi would ultimately be renditions of the Celtic name.

An alternative theory, proposed by the Austrian slavistics professor Otto Kronsteiner, suggests that the term Ostarrîchi is taken from a Slavic toponym 'Ostravica' meaning 'pointed hill', taking its popular meaning of 'Eastern realm' at a much later time. This theory was rejected as untenable
by Austrian linguist Heinz-Dieter Pohl.

Ostarrîchi document

The document was issued by Emperor Otto III
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor
Otto III , a King of Germany, was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire. He was elected King in 983 on the death of his father Otto II and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 996.-Early reign:...

 on November 1, 996 in Bruchsal
Bruchsal
Bruchsal is a city at the western edge of the Kraichgau, approximately 20 km northeast of Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany...

 to Gottschalk von Hagenau, Bishop of Freising. It is today kept in the Bayrisches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

.

The historical significance of the document lies in the fact that it is the first time that the name Ostarrîchi, the linguistic ancestor of Österreich, the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 name for Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, is mentioned, even though it applied only to a relatively small territory.
The document concerns a donation of the "territory which is known in the vernacular as Ostarrichi"(regione vulgari vocabulo Ostarrichi), specified as the region of Neuhofen an der Ybbs
Neuhofen an der Ybbs
Neuhofen an der Ybbs is a community in the district of Amstetten in Lower Austria in Austria....

 (in loco Niuuanhova dicto).
The emperor donated this land to the abbey of Freising
Freising
Freising is a town in Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the district Freising. Total population 48,500.The city is located north of Munich at the Isar river, near the Munich International Airport...

 as a fief. The lands and some other communities in the vicinity, which the abbey acquired later, were held until 1803, when they were incorporated into Austria.

Latin and English

The name "" is a latinization of German Österreich. This has led to much confusion as German Ost is "east", but Latin auster is "south". It is first recorded as Austrie marchionibus (Margrave of Austria) on a deed issued by Conrad III
Conrad III
Conrad III may refer to:*Conrad III of Provence *Conrad III, Duke of Bavaria *Conrad III of Germany *Conrad III of Dachau *Conrad III of Jerusalem...

 to the Klosterneuburg Monastery in 1147. On the Privilegium Minus
Privilegium Minus
The Privilegium Minus is a document issued by Emperor Frederick I on September 17, 1156. It included the elevation of the Margraviate of Austria to a Duchy, which was given as an inheritable fief to the House of Babenberg. Its recipient was Frederick's paternal uncle Margrave Henry II Jasomirgott...

 of 1156, the name of the country is given as marchiam Austriae (March of Austria
March of Austria
The March of Austria was created in 976 out of the territory that probably formed the earlier March of Pannonia. It is also called the Margraviate of Austria or the Bavarian Eastern March. In contemporary Latin, it was the marchia Austriae, Austrie marchionibus, or the marcha Orientalis...

) and as Austriae ducatum (Duchy of Austria). In English usage, "Austria" is attested since the early 17th century.

Other languages

All Germanic languages other than English have a name for Austria corresponding to Österreich: Danish Østrig, Dutch Oostenrijk, Frisian Eastenryk, and Icelandic Austurríki. Finnish Itävalta is also derived from the German name: itä means "east" and valta "state". "Austria" was adopted in most other languages, including Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Maltese, Russian, Polish, Slovene, Greek, Estonian, Turkish, and Albanian. French is an exception within the Romance group in adopting the German name, Autriche.

The Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...

 and Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...

 languages have a peculiar name for Austria. Czech Rakousko and Slovak Rakúsko neither derived from German Österreich nor from Latin Austria. The Czech name of Rakousko, previously also Rakúsy and later Rakousy, which is still used for the states of Upper
Upper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...

 and Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...

 (Horní a Dolní Rakousy), originates in the name of the Austrian castle and town of Raabs an der Thaya
Raabs an der Thaya
Raabs an der Thaya is a municipality with 3,114 inhabitants in Waidhofen an der Thaya in the Waldviertel of Lower Austria, near the Austrian border with the Czech Republic. The area of the municipality is 134.65 square kilometers, 27.6% of which is forested.The German Thaya and the Moravian Thaya...

 near the Czech-Austrian border, formerly also known as Ratgoz or Ratgos.

The Arabic name for Austria is an-Nimsā (النمسا). This is a borrowing (via Ottoman Turkish or Persian "نمچه" – "Nemçe") from the Slavic name for "Germans", němьci, whence Croatian Njemačka, Serbian Nemačka (Немачка), Slovene Nemčija, Czech has Německo, Slovak Nemecko, etc., all meaning "Germany".

External links

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