section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The name of the city, Graz, formerly spelled Gratz and also formerly known as Grätz, most likely derives from Slavic gradec/gradac 'small castle'. Some archaeological finds point to the erection of a small castle by Alpine Slavic people, who settled in the region after the barbarian invasions drove out the original Celts, as well as the Romans. In Slovene, gradec still means 'small castle', a hypocoristic derivative of Proto-West-South Slavic *gradьcъ, which descends via liquid metathesis from Common Slavic *gardьcъ and via the Slavic third palatalization from Proto-Slavic *gardiku, originally denoting 'small town, settlement'. The name thus follows the common South Slavic pattern for naming settlements grad. Despite the Slavic root of the name, however, the city of Graz was founded by Bavarian settlers who arrived shortly after the Slavs, with which they intermixed. The city's name first appears in records in 1128; a record of Grez from 1091 is disputed.