Talk:Καύκασος

Scythian etymology is backed by Plinius : Scythae ipsi Persas Chorsaros et Caucasum montem Croucasim, hoc est nive candidum. — (Plinius, Naturalis Historia, VI)

Relation with PIE *kouk-?

This name fits semantically with the proto-Indo-European root *keuk- for a heap, a pile. In Germanic that resulted in *hauhaz (“high”) and in the Balto-Slavic in Lithuanian kaukas (“bump”), Russian ку́ча (kúča, “pile, heap, stack”), Bulgarian чука (čuka, “sharp rock”) (the first two resulted from its O-grade, he later from the E-grade). I think such a hypothesis should be mentioned besides the guesswork of Ancient Greek philosophers.