Content area
Full Text
The name of the country that we designate in English as Austria is to be derived from the German Österreich, meaning 'eastern realm'. This designation occurs in nearly all European languages, e.g. Swedish Österrike, French Autriche, Slovenian Austrija, to mention but a few. Even the strange-looking Finnish Itävalta falls under this heading, being a mere calque of the Swedish Österrike. However, there is one glaring exception to this harmony, viz. Czech Rakousko and, in similar vein, Slovak Rakúsko. (Henceforth Rakousko will be used to stand equally for both Czech Rakousko and Slovak Rakúsko, except where the two need to be distinguished.) This anomaly is the subject of my paper, in which I shall examine previous pertinent scholarship and, in addition, bring some new points to bear on this enigmatic topic.
The Romans had no single name for the territory which makes up today's Austria. The western section of the country formed part of the Roman province of Rhaetia, the central part was in the province of Noricum, and the eastern part found itself in the province of Pannonia, where the modern country of Hungary is situated. It is clear that none of these Roman names can serve as the precursor to Rakousko.
The Roman evidence notwithstanding, it might be thought that the toponym Rakousko predates the toponym Austria. However, Austria is no recent coinage. It is generally agreed that Austria is first mentioned, in the guise of OstarrÎchi, in the famous OstarrÎchi-Urkunde of 996. In this document the Roman Emperor and German King Otto III bestowed on the bishopric of Freising (Bavaria) thirty "royal hides" of land (the equivalent of some 2000 acres) in Neuhofen an der Ybbs, together with all that belonged to that land. Here is the pertinent passage from the OstarrÎchi-Urkunde, in the original Latin, followed by Heinz Dieter Pohl's German translation:
...Noverint omnium industriae fidelium nostrorum tam praesentium quam futurorum, qualiter nos dignis petitionibus dilectissimi nepotis nostri Baioariorum ducis Heinrici annuentes quasdam nostri iuris res in regione vulgari vocabulo OstarrÎchi in marcha et in comitatu Heinrici comitis filii Liutpaldi marchionis in loco Niuuanhova dicto, id est cum eadem curte et in proximo confinio adiacentes triginta regales hobas cum terris cultis et incultis, pratis, pascuis, silvis, aedificiis, aquis aquarumve decursibus, venationibus,...