Carpathians

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Carpates; compare the Germanic form attested in Old Norse Harvaðafjǫll, of which no past or present English counterpart is known (but which may have existed at some stage).

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”), Aromanian shcarpã, also Proto-Slavic *skala (“rock, cliff”)), perhaps via a Dacian cognate which meant “mountain”, “rock”, or “rugged” (compare Proto-Germanic *skarpaz (whence sharp), Lithuanian kar̃pas (“cut, hack, notch”), Latvian cìrpt (“to shear, clip”)). Compare also archaic Polish karpa (“rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots or trunks”), Romansch crap (“stone”). Alternatively, the name may come from Proto-Indo-European *kʷerp- (“to turn”) (whence wharf and Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”)), perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape.

According to Eichner and Çabej, it derives from Proto-Albanian *karpātai (“mountanous place”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑː(ɹ)ˈpeɪ.θi.ənz/

Proper noun

Carpathians pl (plural only)

1. A large mountainous system in Central Europe, mainly in Transylvania (Romania) and the Polish (Subcarpathian)-Slovak border region.

Synonyms

• Carpathian Mountains

Related terms

• Carpathian

Translations

mountainous system in Central Europe

• Albanian: Karpatet
• Arabic: كَارْبَات (karbāt)
• Armenian: Կարպատներ (hy) pl (Karpatner)
• Azerbaijani: Karpat (az)
• Basque: Karpatoak
• Belarusian: Карпа́ты f pl (Karpáty)
• Bulgarian: Карпа̀ти f pl (Karpàti)
• Catalan: Carpats m pl
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 喀爾巴阡山脈／喀尔巴阡山脉 (zh) (Kā'ěrbāqiān shānmài)

• Czech: Karpaty (cs) pl
• Danish: Karpaterne pl
• Dutch: Karpaten (nl) pl
• Estonian: Karpaadid pl
• Finnish: Karpaatit pl
• French: Karpatique m, Carpates (fr) m pl
• Galician: Cárpatos m pl
• Georgian: კარპატები (ḳarṗaṭebi)
• German: Karpaten (de) f pl
• Greek: Καρπάθια (el) n pl (Karpáthia)
• Hungarian: Kárpátok (hu)
• Irish: Sléibhte Cairp m pl
• Italian: Carpazi (it) m pl
• Japanese: カルパティア山脈 (Karupatia sanmyaku)
• Korean: 카르파티아산맥 (kareupatiasanmaek)
• Latin: Alpes Bastarnicae pl
• Latvian: Karpati m pl
• Lithuanian: Karpatai m pl
• Macedonian: Карпа́ти f pl (Karpáti)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Karpatene pl

  Nynorsk: Karpatane pl

• Old Norse: Harvaðafjǫll n pl
• Polish: Karpaty (pl) nvir
• Portuguese: Cárpatos (pt) m pl
• Romanian: Carpați (ro) pl, Munții Carpați m pl
• Russian: Карпа́ты (ru) f pl (Karpáty)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Карпати f pl

  Roman: Karpati (sh) f pl

• Slovak: Karpaty (sk) m pl
• Slovene: Karpaty m pl
• Spanish: Cárpatos m pl
• Swedish: Karpaterna (sv) pl
• Turkish: Karpatlar pl
• Ukrainian: Карпа́ти (uk) f pl (Karpáty)
• Welsh: Carpatiau