Etymology

The etymology of the name carried by the mountains is unknown, for its elucidation several variants are proposed. Two of the best known are:

• Rocks , from a Dacian word rooted in the Indo-European Proto * sker- / * ker , related, or identical, to the Albanian kar pë (rock);
• from the Proto-Indo-European   * kwerp (to turn, to bend), which gave the Greek karpós (wrist), the Old English hweorfan (to turn), taking into account the shape of the mountains. The name also gave the name of Carpilor , a Dacian tribe that lived in Moldova in the II-IV centuries. The name was given to them by the Romans or it was a native one; either because they lived beyond the Carpathians, or because they adopted it as inhabitants of the area.

Another variant is the origin of the name "Carpathians" from the Dacian tribe of the Carpathians . ^[6]

Geography [ change | change source ]

The Carpathians start from the Danube near Bratislava . They surround Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a wide semicircle, continue to the southeast, and end on the Danube near Orșova , Romania . The total length of the Carpathians is 1500 km, and the width of the mountain range varies between 12 km and 500 km. The largest width of the Carpathians corresponds to the highest altitude. The mountain range is the widest in the Transylvanian Hilly Depression , and at the foot of the Tatra Mountains (the highest in the Carpathians, with Gerlachovský štít , which has an altitude of 2,655 m, on the territory of Slovakiaon the border with Poland . It covers an area of ​​190,000 km ² and, after the Alps , is the largest mountain range in Europe.

Although the Carpathians are commonly referred to as a mountain range, they do not actually form an unbroken mountain range. Rather, it consists of several distinct geological groups, presenting a great structural variety like the Alps. The Carpathians, which only rarely exceed an altitude of 2500 m, do not have rocky peaks, extensive snowy areas, vast glaciers, high waterfalls, or vast lakes that are common in the Alps. No area in the Carpathians is snowy all year round and has no glaciers . The Carpathians at their maximum altitude are as high as the Central Eastern Alps , with which they share a common appearance, climate and flora .

The Carpathians are separated from the Alps by the Danube. The two mountain ranges meet at one point: in the Leitha Mountains in Bratislava. The river also separates the Carpathians from the Balkan Mountains , in Orșova.