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While reading on the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Wikipedia:

Their goals, however, were no obstacle to economic cooperation with the Austrian-Hungarian authorities [...] This was done as the Austrian-Hungarian authorities had a plan to isolate Bosnia and Herzegovina from its neighbouring Slavic countries, Croatia and Serbia, and to halt the national aspirations of the peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The demonym choice for Austria-Hungary piqued my curiosity. Is it correct to say Austrian-Hungarian or would Austro-Hungarian be more appropiate?

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    In this context, "Austrian-Hungarian" stands for "Austrian and Hungarian", when "Austro-Hungarian" would refer to the former Austria-Hungary empire 1867-1918. – Graffito May 07 '16 at 20:13
  • @Graffito I think it has something to do with avoiding ambiguity like using African-American instead of Afro-American. What do you think? – vickyace May 07 '16 at 20:27
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    @Graffito Doubtful, although I could be convinced by evidence. Austrian-Hungarian authorities means the officials of the governmental bodies granted authority by the union of kingdoms known in English as the Austrian-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918). – deadrat May 07 '16 at 22:09
  • @vickyace - For me (and wikipedia) African American and Afro-Americans are synonyms. Back to Europe, there is presently no real issue related to Austrian minorities in Hungary (respectively to Hungarian minority in Austria) justifying a disambiguation. – Graffito May 07 '16 at 22:10
  • @vickyace What ambiguity? Black US citizens adopted African-American, likely by analogy. US citizens of Italian descent call themselves Italian-Americans, not Italo-Americans. Afro-American has at least 150 years in the language and graced the name of a Harvard University academic department in the 1990s. – deadrat May 07 '16 at 22:14
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    @deadrat - At first glance, I thought that the text was refering to the Yugoslav Wars 1991-2001, but following your comment, I realized that Bosnian crisis / 1908-1909 occured during the reign of Franz Joseph that was the Austro-Hungarian Emperor. Then, Austrian-Hungarian might be a synonym of Austro-Hungarian. – Graffito May 07 '16 at 22:22
  • @Graffito Yeah, that Balkan nonsense has been going on for centuries. It can be hard to tell the difference between eras. – deadrat May 07 '16 at 22:25

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English usage prefers Austro-Hungarian (Empire). I suspect 'Austrian-Hungarian' is a direct transposition from the German Österreichisch-Ungarische (Monarchie) by someone unfamiliar with the English usage.

user175507
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