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Mount Everest

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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WOTD – 29 May 2024

Etymology

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Mount Everest.
Sir George Everest, after whom the mountain was named.

From mount +‎ Everest, coined by the British army officer and Surveyor General of India Andrew Scott Waugh (1810–1878)—originally as Mont Everest—in a paper of 1 March 1856 to the Royal Geographical Society, after his predecessor George Everest (1790–1866): see the quotation.[1][2] The name Mount Everest was used in a 27 October 1856 paper by the British naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800 or 1801 – 1894)[3] and by Sir Roderick Impey Murchison (1792–1871), the President of the Society,[4] at a meeting of the Society on 11 May 1857 at which the two papers were read.

Pronunciation

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Proper noun

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Mount Everest

  1. A mountain in the Himalayas, on the border of Solukhumbu district, Koshi, Nepal and Tingri County, Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region, China; the world's highest mountain above sea level. [from 1856]
    • [1856 March 1, A[ndrew] S[cott] Waugh, “1. Papers Relating to the Himalaya and Mount Everest. A. By Lieutenant-Colonel A. S. Waugh, Surveyor-General of India, dated Dehra, March 1st, 1856; […]”, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, volume I, number IX, London: Edward Stanford, […] [for the Royal Geographical Society], published 11 May 1857, →OCLC, page 346:
      [T]he privilege, as well as the duty, devolves on me to assign to this lofty pinnacle of our globe, a name whereby it may be known among geographers and become a household word among civilized nations. In virtue of this privilege, in testimony of my affectionate respect for a revered chief, in conformity with what I believe to be the wish of all the Members of the scientific department, over which I have the honour to preside, and to perpetuate the memory of that illustrious master of accurate geographical research, I have determined to name this noble peak of the Himalayas ‘Mont Everest.’ […] In the case of Mont Everest the accordance of the independent heights is closer than could have been anticipated, because the mountain, though lofty and massive, is not a sharp well-defined peak and was observed from great distances.]
    • 1856 October 15, “Science and Inventions. The Fortnight.”, in The Critic, London Literary Journal, volume XV, number 373, London: John Crockford, →OCLC, page 500, column 3:
      It appears from a late survey made of the Himalaya range, by Colonel Waugh, that the Khanchinjinga, which has been hitherto supposed to be the highest summit, is, in fact, not so—a higher mountain having been discovered, situated between Katmandoo and Khanchinjinga. This last named is 28,156 feet above the level of the sea; but the new summit reaches the enormous height of 29,002 feet. It has been proposed to call this Mount Everest, after a former Surveyor-General of India.
    • 1857, Edward Thornton, “Everest Mount”, in A Gazetteer of the Territories under the Government of the East-India Company, and the Native States on the Continent of India. […], London: W[illia]m H[oughton] Allen & Co., […], →OCLC, page 306, column 1:
      EVEREST MOUNT.—A mountain of the Himalaya range, situate between the mountain of Kinchingunga, in Sikkim, and the city of Khatmandoo, in Nepaul, and presumed to be the loftiest summit in the world. Its elevation is 29,002 feet above the level of the sea. The highest summit of the Andes is Sorata, having an elevation of 25,267 feet. Mount Everest is reported to have been recently discovered by Colonel Waugh, and to have been named in compliment to the late surveyor-general of India.
    • 1860 July 21, George Gilfillan, quotee, “Alpha and Omega [book review]”, in The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art, volume X, number 247, London: […] Spottiswoode and Co., […], →OCLC, page 87, column 2:
      But narrative, after all, is Mr. Gilfillan's forte, and his picture of the flood is a masterpiece. […] Then, we have mountains submerged and volcanoes extinguished, "Ben Nevis sunk fathoms and fathoms more beneath the waves"—"the eye of Mount Blanc darkened, Old Taurus blotted out," the tide "rolling over the summit of Mount Everest, and violating its last particle of virgin snow"—and lastly, "some human scenes of extraordinary interest," which Mr. Gilfillan descries amidst the surrounding confusion.
    • 1863, Fordyce A[lmon] Allen, “Asia. Lesson XLII.”, in A Primary Geography on the Basis of the Object Method of Instruction (Lippincott’s Geographical Series), 3rd edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott & Co., →OCLC, page 45:
      The mountains of Asia are the loftiest in the world. Mount Everest, one of the Himalayas, is more than five and one-half miles high,—a mile higher than Mount Tupungato!
    • 1870, James Orton, chapter VIII, in The Andes and the Amazon: or, Across the Continent of South America, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 131:
      Chimborazo was long supposed to be the tallest mountain on the globe, but its supremacy has been supplanted by Mount Everest in Asia, and Aconcagua in Chile. [Footnote †: Mount Everest is 29,000 feet, and Aconcagua 23,200. [Hermann von] Schlagintweit enumerates thirteen Himalayan summits over 25,000 feet, and forty-six above 20,000.]
    • 1878, Jules Verne, “The Bad Roads of Angola”, in [anonymous], transl., Dick Sand; or, A Captain at Fifteen. […], New York, N.Y.: George Munro, […], →OCLC, part II, page 197:
      It was one of those termite cones that, according to Lieutenant Cameron's comparison, are more astonishing than the pyramids of Egypt, raised by the hands of men, because they have been built by such small insects. "It is," said he, "as if a nation had built Mount Everest, the highest mountain of the Himalaya chain."
    • 1892 October, Clinton T[homas] Dent, “Can Mount Everest be Ascended?”, in James Knowles, editor, The Nineteenth Century: A Monthly Review, volume XXXII, number CLXXXVII, London: Sampson Law, Marston & Company […], →OCLC, page 605:
      Although the real elevation, and even the geographical position, of even the highest mountain in the world are quite uncertain, it may be assumed that the goal lies somewhere near the northern frontier of Nepal, very probably north of the summit recognised by surveyors as Mount Everest, and that the height is at least 29,000 to 30,000 feet.
    • 1926 October, Francis Younghusband, “Preface”, in The Epic of Mount Everest, school edition, London: Edward Arnold & Co., published April 1931 (1933 printing), →OCLC, page 5:
      The years have gone by and still we know not whether or no [George] Mallory and [Andrew] Irvine reached the summit. But the will to climb Mount Everest is still alive.
    • 1962, Edmund Hillary, Desmond Doig, “Into the Mingbo Valley”, in High in the Thin Cold Air: The Story of the Himalayan Expedition, Led by Sir Edmund Hillary, […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, page 129:
      Our investigations were carried out almost exclusively among the Sherpa people living within thirty miles of Mount Everest. Tracks and sightings of the Yeti have been reported over a much wider area than this, but a large proportion of the more tangible evidence used in support of the Yeti theory comes from the region we examined.
    • 1989 December 30, P[ritamial] V[ijoyshanker] Bole, “Introduction”, in 100 Himalayan Flowers, New York, N.Y.: The Vendome Press, published 1991, →ISBN, page 8:
      This abode of snow is the loftiest mountain range on earth. Its highest peak is the mighty Mount Everest. The Himalayas extend from Afghanistan in the east up to south-east Tibet, a distance of over 2,400 km in length and 250 to 400 km in breadth.
    • 2020 December 8, Ankit Adhikari, Joanna Slater, “It’s official: Mount Everest just got a little bit higher”, in The Washington Post (Asia & Pacific section)‎[1], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-12-08:
      Nepal and China, the two countries that share a border on Mount Everest, announced a new official measurement of the mountain’s height on Tuesday: 8,848.86 meters, or 29,031.69 feet.
    • 2023 January 31, Bhadra Sharma, Adam Skolnick, “The Queen of Everest trains while working at whole foods”, in The New York Times (Sports section)‎[2], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-01-31:
      Lhakpa Sherpa has climbed Mount Everest 10 times, the most ascents ever by a woman. She has no plans of slowing down.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Mount Everest.

Alternative forms

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Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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Mount Everest (plural Mount Everests)

  1. (figurative) An endeavour that is very demanding yet rewarding; also, a thing which is the highest achievement, challenge, etc.; the epitome, the pinnacle, the ultimate.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:apex
    • 1907, Edmund Gosse, “The Age of Elizabeth 1560–1610”, in A Short History of Modern English Literature, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, page 104:
      We stand on the colossal peak of King Lear, with Othello on our right hand and Macbeth on our left, the sublime masses of Elizabethan mountain country rolling on every side of us, yet plainly dominated by the extraordinary central cluster of aiguilles on which we have planted ourselves. This triple summit of the later tragedies of [William] Shakespeare forms the Mount Everest of the poetry of the world.
    • 1958, Rudolf Flesch, “How to Write Like a Pro”, in A New Way to Better English, Garden City, N.Y.: Dolphin Books, Doubleday & Company, →OCLC, page 102:
      After this rather tricky problem let's climb the Mount Everest of all writing problems. I mean, of course, the world-famous, forbidding peak of U.S. income-tax prose.
    • 1983, Al McGuire, “Foreword”, in They Were Number One: A History of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, New York, N.Y.: Leisure Press, →ISBN, page 13:
      Personally, as a coach, I always considered the NCAA Tournament to be the Mount Everest of basketball. Just to be asked to climb it was a compliment.
    • 2010 January 17, Claire Sawers, “A journey from ballroom to battlefield”, in The Times‎[3], London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 9 July 2021:
      War and Peace is often seen as the Mount Everest of novels. A daunting door-stopper of a tome, at almost 1,500 pages, it is rarely finished.
    • 2011, Max Davidson, quoting Dean Jones, “Dean Jones: ‘Get Me a Real Australian’”, in Fields of Courage: The Bravest Chapters in Sport, London: Abacus, Little, Brown Book Group, published 2012, →ISBN, page 95:
      I lost seven kilos in the heat, but I needed to do it. I had to put myself through the wall to get where I needed to be. This was my Mount Everest. I had to climb it to prove to myself that I could compete at this level. But by gee, it was bloody hard work.
    • 2012 June 21, Michael Dirda, “Library of Congress issues list of ‘Books that Shaped America’”, in The Washington Post (Style section)‎[4], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 6 June 2014:
      Most great book lists concentrate on works of the highest literary or scholarly merit. Think of the Harvard Classics, Harold Bloom's "Western Canon," the Modern Library's selection of "the 100 best novels of the 20th century." Here, the compilers imply, are our cultural masterpieces, the Mount Everests and K2s all literate people should scale in their lifetime.
    • 2015, Kelly McGonigal, “A Meaningful Life Is a Stressful Life”, in The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good for You (and How to Get Good at It), London: Vermilion, Ebury Publishing, →ISBN, page 86:
      Two weeks later, [Alia] Crum was lying awake in bed when his comment came back to her. "If you were climbing Everest, you can imagine it would be cold, and there'd be some nights it would be dark, and you'd be tired," Crum thought. "You'd be pretty miserable. But what did you expect? You're climbing Everest." At that time in her life, finishing her dissertation was her Mount Everest. She wasn't sure she would succeed. But that challenge was important enough to be worth weathering a few cold, dark nights.
    • 2017 October 4, David Salazar, interviewer, quoting Russell Thomas, “Q & A: Tenor Russell Thomas on His First ‘Otello’ & Historic Met ‘Bohème’”, in OperaWire‎[5], archived from the original on 2018-10-09:
      O[pera]W[ire]: Many see it as the Mount Everest of tenor roles. What made you feel ready to take it on at this moment in your life? And why with ASO [the American Symphony Orchestra]? / R[ussell] T[homas]: It definitely is the Mount Everest of tenor roles!!
    • 2018 April 12, Tim Carman, “Can a chile pepper really cause an ‘incapacitating’ headache?”, in The Washington Post‎[6], Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-15:
      To people of a certain disposition – thrill-seekers, daredevils, folks who never want to taste their food again – the Carolina Reaper is the Mount Everest of foodstuffs. It must be conquered.
    • 2021 October 4, Patricia Leigh Brown, “Oyster shoreline at ‘Greater New York’ has a pearl of a message”, in The New York Times (Art & Design section)‎[7], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-10-04:
      To get to Newtown Creek, a severely polluted New York City waterway and Superfund site once teeming with oyster beds, the Mohawk artist Alan Michelson wended his way past the detritus of industrial Queens – the garbage haulers, the taco truck parking lots, the Mount Everests of scrap metal and building debris being clawed by construction cranes.
    • 2023 February 20, Bob Wisener, “Steve Asmussen reaches 10,000 win mark at Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort”, in Arkansas Democrat-Gazette‎[8], Little Rock, Ark.: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-02-20:
      Steve Asmussen reached the Mount Everest of horse racing Monday with his North American record 10,000th victory as a professional trainer.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Mount Everest.

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ J[ames] T[homas] Walker (1886 February) “Notes on Mont Everest”, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography, volume 8, number 2, London: Edward Stanford [for the Royal Geographical Society], →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 88:
    In 1856, Colonel (afterwards General Sir Andrew) Waugh, Surveyor-General of India, informed this Society that a peak, designated XV. in the official list of the great Himalayan peaks, had been found to be higher than any other hitherto measured in India; that it had no local name which the survey officers had discovered, or were likely to be able to discover while debarred from entering Nepal; […] thus, the privilege, as well as the duty, devolved on him “to assign to this lofty pinnacle of our globe a name whereby it may be known among geographers, and become a household word among civilised nations;” he had determined therefore to name it “Mont Everest” after his late respected chief and predecessor.
  2. ^ Compare Leon E[ugene] Seltzer, editor (1952), “Everest, Mount”, in The Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World, Morningside Heights, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →OCLC, page 596, column 1: “First observed 1849 by trigonometrical survey of India and named (c.1855) for a former surveyor-general (1830–43), Sir George Everest; […]”.
  3. ^ B[rian] H[oughton] Hodgson (1856 March 1) “1. Papers Relating to the Himalaya and Mount Everest. […] B. By B. H. Hodgson, Esq., dated Darjiling, Oct. 27th, 1856.”, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, volume I, number IX, London: Edward Stanford, […] [for the Royal Geographical Society], published 11 May 1857, →OCLC, page 348:
    Agreeing as I do with Colonel Waugh in the propriety of adopting native names, and cordially sympathising with the sentiment which gave rise to the name Mount Everest, I trust I may be permitted, without offence, to state, in justice to my friends the Nepalese and to myself, who have been so long connected with them, that the mountain in question does not lack a native and ascertained name; that the name is Dévadhúngá, Holy hill, or Mons Sacer; […]
  4. ^ Robert I[mpey] Murchison (1857 May 11) “Twelfth Meeting, May 11th, 1857”, in Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London, volume I, number IX, London: Edward Stanford, […] [for the Royal Geographical Society], →OCLC, page 350: “[The President said that a] more appropriate name could not be given than that of Mount Everest; and, whatever might be its name in India, he hoped, in England at least, it would always be known by the name of Everest.”

Further reading

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Polish

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Polish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pl
Mount Everest

Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English Mount Everest.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈmɔnt ˈɛ.vɛ.rɛst/, (hyperforeign) /ˈmawnt ˈɛ.vɛ.rɛst/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Syllabification: [please specify syllabification manually]

Proper noun

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Mount Everest m inan

  1. Mount Everest (a mountain in Himalayas, the world's highest mountain)
    Synonym: Czomolungma

Declension

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Declension of Mount Everest
singular
nominative Mount Everest
genitive Mount Everestu
dative Mount Everestowi
accusative Mount Everest
instrumental Mount Everestem
locative Mount Evereście
vocative Mount Evereście

Further reading

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