It is mostly because of this guy pictured above – Pedro Fernandes de Queirós

Introduction

Austria and Australia are very far apart, yet their names are similar enough to cause confusion for even politicians! How have these two very different areas gotten such similar names? The short answer: Aristotle, selfish nationalism, a misspelling, and confusion. I found that Austria came first and Australia second.

Etymology of Austria

From the endonym from the area “österreich” comes the Latinized name “Austria.” “Österreich” itself is derived from the Old High German word “ostarrîchi” which subsequently means “Eastern Realm,” in reference to Austria’s location when compared to Germany. In modern German, “osten” means east, and this causes confusion because it is similar to the word for “south” in another language, namely Latin, since Austria as a name was Latinized.

Etymology of Australia

Aristotle and many other philosophers throughout history (including Ptomely) believed the Earth was balanced between the north and south hemispheres – there was the same amount of land on either side of the equator. Today, we know they were wrong, but the obstinate ‘scientific’ search for such a land went on for a long time with no evidence. At first, maps showed an undefined landmass stretching the entire expanse of the southernmost regions of the map and called it “Terra Australis,” from a philosopher’s original “Cingulus Australis,” which meant “Southern Zone” when translated from Latin. The name Terra Australis was then used to label all land that explorers would hypothetically contact and that would balance the north and south.

Then, the Dutch East India Company observed what we now call Australia’s existence when exploring south of Java. The island, which was amorphously mapped when needed, was given the name “Terra Australis Incognita,” meaning “Unknown Southern Land.” This placeholder name was quickly disregarded and the giant island was called “New Holland” or “Novas Hollandia” by the same man who is now the namesake of Tasmania. The title “Terra Australis Incognita” was taken and given to the southern pole region, which was later found to have land. Around the same time, Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, a Spanish explorer, happened upon what we now know as Vanuatu. But since Spain was ruled by the Hapsburgs who were Austrian, Fernandes sprinkled in nationalism and called the land “Austrialia de Espiritu Santo” meaning “Southern Austrian Land of the Holy Spirit,” combining “Austral” from Latin and the name of Austria. Then when Richard Hakluyt messed up the spelling of the new name in a letter talking about the lands, yet the name stuck, but it was still attributed to Vanuatu and taken away from Antarctica (though the name transitioned and was used ambivalently for a bit), and it was put in the form of “Australia.” In 1794, two botanists convinced many scholars and influential people to switch the terms and call what we now call Australia “Australia,” instead of New Holland. They pushed and the change stuck, even though it wasn’t faithful to the original etymology of the term. It was first officially used by the British Empire in 1824 and once the British use a term, its official, unless they themselves discard of it.