alp

[prettygoodword]

Briefly, it's a theme week: three-letter words.


alp (ALP) - n., a high mountain.


Back-formation from the Alps, the mountain range in Europe, called Alpes in Latin, origin uncertain -- possibly from Latin albus, white, possibly a local Celtic language's name (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-, grow/rise), possibly from a local non-IE language.

---L.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

Is it a back-formation, a borrowing, or a corrective? It's "Alb" auf deutsch where the actual geographic protrusions are, and the surname Alber/Alper[s] means the guy from over the hill, a stranger with assumed-odd customs, sometimes into fairy/monster strangeness. I'd nix Latin, too recent, but a Celtic or non-IE substrate seems possible.

[prettygoodword]

Well, a back-formation in English, as Alps-the-range is attested long before alp-the-mountain. Whether Celtic, Germanic, PIE, non-PIE, or whatever is the ultimate root seems too murky to untangle now.

[thistleingrey]

Edited: think I need not to read these for a while. Unsubbing--me, not you.

[prettygoodword]

Do what you need to -- take care of yourself. (Not that you need me to say that.)