English Explanatory Dictionary

Elbrus

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. An inactive volcano located in the western Caucasus mountain range, in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia, near the border of Georgia. Elbrus's highest peak is the highest mountain in Europe, and in Russia.

Word forms

Elbrus

Etymology

The word is a metathesis of Alborz, which is from Persian البرز (alborz), from Middle Persian hlbwlc (Harborz), ultimately derived from Proto-Iranian *Harā Bṛzatī, a legendary mountain in Iranian mythology (compare Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬁⸱𐬠𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬍 (harā.bər^əzaⁱtī)). *Bṛzatī is the feminine form of the adjective *br̥jáns (“high”), the reconstructed ancestor of modern Northern Kurdish berz (“high, tall”) and modern Persian برز (borz, “high, tall”). Harā may be interpreted as "watch" or "guard", from a Proto-Indo-European root *ser- (“protect”).

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