Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “mountaintop” come from?

Mountaintop comes from Middle English montaigne, from Old French muntaine, from Proto-Germanic tuppaz, from Latin mons meaning a high mass of land.

mountaintop (English): The summit of a mountain; Situated or occurring...

Definitions

  1. The summit of a mountain; Situated or occurring...

Ancestry of “mountaintop”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishMountaina steam locomotive of the 4-8-2 wheel arrangement
2Middle EnglishmountayneA mountain; a mount or peak; A lump or pile
3Anglo-Normanmontaigne—
4Latinmontānia—
5Latinmontemaccusative singular of mōns; mountain
6Latinmonsmountain, mount; towering mass, heap, great...
7Proto-Indo-Europeanmonti—
8PortugueseMonte—
9Old Portuguesemonte—
Every word from Old Portuguese monte →