Carpates

From Latin Carpates. See Carpathians.

• IPA^(key): /kaʁ.pat/

Carpates f pl (plural only)

1. Carpathians

• carpatique

A foreign word of uncertain origin, but from the same source as Old Norse Harfaða-fjǫll (“Carpathian Mountains”), the first part possibly from Proto-Germanic *harbaþaz (“Carpathian”, name of a tribe?). Interestingly, the borrowing from or into Germanic appears to have taken place before Grimm's law and is thus very early, prior to Proto-Germanic proper. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) Alternatively, from Illyrian or Proto-Albanian *karpātai (“mountanous place”). Compare in any case Carpi, the name of a tribe of the Carpathian region, perhaps Dacian in ethnicity. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Carpatēs m pl (genitive Carpatum); third declension

1. the Carpathians

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Third-declension noun, plural only.

• → Ancient Greek: Καρπάτης (Karpátēs)
• →⇒ English: Carpathians (learned)
• → French: Carpates (learned)