Friedrich Heer, a 20th-century Austrian historian, stated in his book "Der Kampf um die österreichische Identität" ("The Struggle Over Austrian Identity"), that the Germanic form "Ostarrîchi" was not a translation of the Latin word, but both resulted from a much older term originating in the Celtic languages of ancient Austria: more than 2,500 years ago, the major part of the actual country was called "Norig" by the Celtic population (Hallstatt culture); according to Heer, "no-" or "nor-" meant "east" or "eastern", whereas "-rig" is related to the modern German "Reich", meaning "realm".
Ta beseda je najverjetneje prevod iz srednjeveške latinščine, , v lokalno (bavarsko) narečje.