Carantania, also known as Carentania (, , in Old Slavic ), was a Slavic principality that emerged in the second half of the 7th century, in the territory of present-day southern Austria and north-eastern Slovenia. It was the predecessor of the March of Carinthia, created within the Carolingian Empire in 889. Origin of the name The name Carantania is of proto-Slavic origin. Paul the Deacon mentions Slavs in Carnuntum, which is erroneously called Carantanum (Carnuntum, quod corrupte vocitant Carantanum). A possible etymological explanation is that it may have been formed from a toponymic base carant- which ultimately derives from pre-Indo-European root *karra meaning 'rock', or that it is of Celtic origin and derived from *karant- meaning 'friend, ally'. Its Slavic name was adopted from the Latin *carantanum. The toponym Carinthia (Slovene: < Proto-Slavic *korǫt’ьsko) is also claimed to be etymologically related, deriving from pre-Slavic *carantia. In Slovenian, Korotan remained a synonym for both Carinthia and Carantania well into the 19th and early 20th century. Nowadays, Karantanija is used for the early medieval Slavic principality, while Koroška for the duchy and region that emerged from it from the 10th century onward. The name, like most toponyms beginning with *Kar(n)- in this area of Europe, are in turn most likely linked to the pre-Roman tribe of the Carni that once populated the eastern Alps. Territory Carantania's capital was most likely Karnburg () in the Zollfeld Field (), north of modern-day town of Klagenfurt (). The principality was centered in the area of modern Carinthia, and included territories of modern Styria, most of today's East Tyrol and of the Puster Valley, the Lungau and Ennspongau regions of Salzburg, and parts of southern Upper Austria and Lower Austria. It most probably also included the territory of the modern Slovenian province of Carinthia. The few existing historical sources distinguish between two separate Slavic principalities in the Eastern Alpine area: Carantania and Carniola. The latter, which appears in historical records dating from the late 8th century, was situated in the central part of modern Slovenia. It was (at least by name) the predecessor of the later Duchy of Carniola. The borders of the later Carantania state, which was under the feudal overlordship of the Carolingians, and its successor (the March of Carinthia, 826–976), as well as of the later Duchy of Carinthia (from 976), extended beyond historical Carantania. History In the 4th century Chur became the