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Origin and history of alp

alp(n.)

"high, snow-capped mountain," especially in Switzerland, 1590s, from Alps, from French Alpes, from Latin Alpes "the Alps," which is perhaps from altus "high," or albus "white" or from a Celtic word (according to Maurus Servius Honoratus the grammarian), or a borrowing from a non-Indo-European language. Alps, the central European mountain range, is attested by that name in English from late 14c.

also from 1590s

Entries linking to alp

alpenglow(n.)

rose-colored light on high mountains before dawn or after dusk, 1871, translating German Alpenglühen; see Alp + glow (v.).

alpenhorn(n.)

"long, powerful horn," formerly used to convey messages across valleys, 1864, from German, literally "horn of the Alps;" see Alp + horn (n.).

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sheldrake
sheldapple, a 16c. name for types of birds remarkable for variegated plumage (the second element of that might be a variant of alp...
elf
Saxon) "sprite, fairy, goblin, incubus," from Proto-Germanic *albiz (source also of Old Saxon alf, Old Norse alfr, German alp...
mountain
"natural elevation rising more or less abruptly and attaining a conspicuous height," c. 1200, from Old French montaigne (Modern French montagne), from Vulgar Latin *montanea "mountain, mountain region," noun use of fem. of *montaneus "of a mountain, mountainous," from Latin monta
mount
c. 1300, mounten, "to get up on a horse;" mid-14c., "to rise up, rise in amount, ascend; fly," from Old French monter "to go up, ascend, climb, mount," from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons (genitive montis) "mountain" (from PIE root *men- (2) "to project"). The transitive
emotion
1570s, "a (social) moving, stirring, agitation," from French émotion (16c.), from Old French emouvoir "stir up" (12c.), from Latin emovere "move out, remove, agitate," from assimilated form of ex "out" (see ex-) + movere "to move" (from PIE root *meue- "to push away"). The sense
capacity
early 15c., capacite, "ability to contain; size, extent;" also "ability" in a legal, moral, or intellectual sense, from Old French capacité "ability to hold" (15c.), from Latin capacitatem (nominative capacitas) "breadth, capacity, capability of holding much," noun of state from
jealous
c. 1200, gelus, later jelus, "possessive and suspicious," originally in the context of sexuality or romance (in any context from late 14c.), from Old French jalos/gelos "keen, zealous; avaricious; jealous" (12c., Modern French jaloux), from Late Latin zelosus, from zelus "zeal,"
heathen
Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish," also as a noun, "heathen man, one of a race or nation which does not acknowledge the God of the Bible" (especially of the Danes), merged with Old Norse heiðinn (adj.) "heathen, pagan," from Proto-Germanic *haithana- (source also of Old
enigma
1530s, "statement which conceals a hidden meaning or known thing under obscure words or forms," earlier enigmate (mid-15c.), from Latin aenigma "riddle," from Greek ainigma (plural ainigmata) "a dark saying, riddle," from ainissesthai "speak obscurely, speak in riddles," from ain
onion
early 12c., ungeon, oinyon, unione, "the underground bulb of the common onion plant," from Anglo-French union, Old French oignon "onion" (formerly also oingnon), and directly from Latin unionem (nominative unio), a colloquial rustic Roman word for a kind of onion, also "pearl" (v

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