alp

Late Middle English, back-formation from alps pl, via French from Latin Alpes (“high mountains, especially those of Switzerland”). Compare Old Saxon elbon (“Alps”), Old High German Alpūn (“Alps”); Old High German alba (“alp, mountain”)).

• IPA^(key): /ælp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

alp (plural alps)

1. A very high mountain. Specifically, one of the Alps, the highest chain of mountains in Europe.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, .”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J M for John Starkey , →OCLC, page 42, line 529:

     Nor breath of Vernal Air from ſnowy Alp.

   • 1711 May, , An Essay on Criticism, London: W Lewis ; and sold by W Taylor , T Osborn , and J Graves , →OCLC, page 15:

     Hills peep o'er Hills, and Alps on Alps ariſe!

   • 1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, : Olympia Press, →OCLC:

     There is a great alp of sand, one hundred metres high, between the pines and the ocean,

2. An alpine meadow.
   • 1942, Marco Pallis, Peaks and Lamas, page 54:

     At the alp of Khyarkuti, a wide flat at the junction of several glens

• APL, LPA, PAL, PLA, Pal, Pla, lap, pal

From German Alp, or maybe more specifically Alemannic German Alp.

alp c (singular definite alpen, plural indefinite alper)

1. a tall mountain
   1. alp; the Alps

      Coordinate term: sæter

• alpeland
• alpetop

• “alp” in Den Danske Ordbog

• Alp (superseded)

Back-formation from Alpen.

• IPA^(key): /ɑlp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: alp
• Rhymes: -ɑlp

alp m (plural alpen, diminutive alpje n)

1. alp, (very) high mountain

• alm

alp

1. (Internet slang, text messaging) à la prochaine

Compare English alp.

alp m (genitive singular ailp, nominative plural alpa)

1. alp (high mountain)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

alp (present analytic alpann, future analytic alpfaidh, verbal noun alpadh, past participle alptha)

1. (transitive) devour, swallow whole
2. (transitive) grab

alp f (genitive singular ailpe, nominative plural ailpeanna)

1. alternative form of ailp (“lump, chunk; knob”)

• alpán
• alpóg

alp m (genitive singular ailp, nominative plural alpa)

1. alternative form of earc (“lizard; reptile”)

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “alp”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “alp”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “alp”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “alp”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025

• (elf, spirit): alb

From Old High German alp (13th century), from Proto-West Germanic *albi.

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈalp/

alp m (plural elbe or elber)

1. elf
2. friendly spirit, ghostly being, genius, or fairy
3. nightmare (later meaning)

• German: Alb

• Marshall Jones Company (1930). Mythology of All Races Series, Volume 2 Eddic, Great Britain: Marshall Jones Company, 1930, pp. 220.

• ailp

Possibly from Old Irish alp (“lump, loose mass”); see ailp.

alp f (genitive singular ailp, plural alpa)

1. protuberance, eminence
2. mountain

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “alp”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

From French Alpes (“Alps”).

alp c

1. alp; a mountain in the Alps

• Alperna

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Alp”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.

From Ottoman Turkish آلپ (alp), from Proto-Turkic *alp (“difficult, hard; warrior, hero, brave; giant, landlord”). Cognate with Old Turkic 𐰞𐰯 (l¹p /⁠alp⁠/), Khakas алып (alıp, “hero”), Kazakh алып (alyp, “giant”), Tatar алып (alıp, “giant”), Yakut алып (alıp, “craftiness, deception, magic”), Uyghur ئالپ (alp, “hero; giant”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑlp/

alp

1. brave, hero

• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “alp”, in Nişanyan Sözlük