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Small discussions thread - 2025/Apr/04 (mander.xyz)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Feel free to use this thread to ask small questions or share random language / linguistics trivia, if you don't feel like creating a new thread just for that.

(Just to be clear: yes, if you want to create a new thread for your question/trivia, you can. I'm only trying to stimulate discussion in the comm.)

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Do that mean the Austria and Australia are etymologically related? That's amazing

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Yes. But only distantly though.

The Latin name Austria is literally "southernia". It's a mistranslation of Old High German Ōstarrīhhi "eastern realm"; auster/ōstar sound similar because they are cognates indeed, but they mean different directions. A more accurate Latinisation would be probably Orientia; from oriens "east".

In the meantime Australia was the result of some XVII century Latin, ⟨terra australis incognita⟩ "unknown southern land".