Austria

Meaning

Proper Noun

• country Central Europe (region) a member state of the European Union

Origin

• From Latin Austria, a Latinization of Old High German Ostarrîchi (the first element of which means "east" and stems from Proto-Germanic *austraz ("eastern"), and the second element of which is rīhhi; it, in turn, is a calque of Marchia austriaca. (See east, eastern for more.)
• Distantly cognate to Australia: it derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root, but via Latin, where it came to mean “south” rather than “east”. Compare also Austrasia.