Carpathians

The story

1. Proto-Albanian · derived from*karpātai“mountanous place”
2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*kʷerp-“to turn”
3. Latin · borrowed fromCarpates
4. English todayCarpathians

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”), Romansh 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”)