Carpathians
English
Etymology
Possibly from the name of the Carpi, an ancient, probably Dacian, tribe living in the eastern Carpathian region of what is now Romania and the Moldova region. The name Carpates may ultimately be from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)ker-, (compare Albanian karpë (“rock”), also Proto-Slavic *skala (“rock, cliff”)), perhaps via a Dacian cognate which meant “mountain”, “rock”, or “rugged” (compare Proto-Germanic *skarpaz (whence sharp), Lithuanian kar~pas (“cut, hack, notch”), Latvian cìrpt (“to shear, clip”)). Compare also archaic Polish karpa (“rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots or trunks”). Alternatively, the name may come from Proto-Indo-European *kwerp (“to turn”) (whence warp and Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”), perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape.
Proper noun
Carpathians
- A large mountainous system in Central Europe, mainly in Transylvania (Romania) and the Polish (Silesian)-Slovak border region.
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