Etymologically
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mountain

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈmaʊn.tɪn/, US /ˈmaʊn.tᵊn/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English mountaine,[2] borrowed from Old French montaigne (French montagne),[3][4] from Vulgar Latin *montānea (“mountain, mountain region”),[3][4] the noun use of the feminine of *montāneus “of a mountain”,[3] from Latin montānus (“mountainous”),[3][4] from mōns (“mountain”) (genitive montis),[3][4] from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to project”).[3] It is related to mount, amount and paramount.[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A natural elevation of the earth rising to a great height: about 1205 in the OED,[6] probably before 1200 in Layamon's Brut according to Barnhart.[4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century it was used of fairly low elevations if they were prominent, such as the Sussex Downs or the hills around Paris.[3] The adjective is from 1373 in Barnhart, the late 14th century in Etymonline.[4][3] Used in the plural as the type of a remote region, it is from 1601.[6] The proverb about the mountain and Muhammad comes from Francis Bacon, who told the story in 1625.[5] Mountains high, of waves, is from 1719.[6] mountaineer was a native of mountains in 1610, in Shakespeare's Tempest,[4] and mountain dew was raw whisky by 1839.[3] The mountain lion, the puma, is American from 1849.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1205 – a mountain.[6]
  • 1373 – adjective.[4]
  • 1601 – a remote region.[6]
  • 1610 – mountaineer.[4]
  • 1625 – Bacon's story of Muhammad.[5]
  • 1839 – mountain dew.[3]
  • 1849 – mountain lion.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A large natural elevation of the earth's surface, higher and steeper than a hill.
  2. A large heap: a mountain of laundry.
  3. A huge quantity: a mountain of debt.

Word family

  • mountainy
  • mountainless
  • mountaineer
  • mountaineering
  • submountain
  • transmountain
  • undermountain
  • amount
  • dismount
  • montane
  • mount
  • demount
  • mountainous
  • paramount
  • surmount
  • promontory
  • eminent

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press