Carinthia (state)

Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Bavarian group. Carinthian Slovene dialects, which predominated in the southern part of the region up to the first half of the 20th century, are now spoken by a small minority.Carinthia's main industries are tourism, electronics, engineering, forestry, and agriculture. The multinational corporations Philips and Siemens have large operations there.NameThe name is thought to be Celtic in origin, though two roots have been proposed: Carant – meaning "friend" or "relation", giving the meaning "land of friends", which may refer to an Illyrian tribe of the Bronze Age. Karanto – meaning "stone, rock" (pre-Indo-European root); if this is the case, the name shares its root with others such as Karnburg and the Karawanken Carantania is also related to the Old Slavic Korotan, from which the modern name Koroška arose, and it derives from pre-Slavic "carantia".