UKH

Some mountain names translate into English fairly obviously; ie Mont Blanc = White Mountain, Aiguille du Midi = pres Middle Needle, Eiger = Ogre, Perdido/Perdu = Lost, Pumori = Daughter peak; Ama Dablam - Mothers necklace; Khumbutse = Khumbu peak etc

Others, though, have me wondering. Anyone know the origins of these Pyrenean ones for example?

Vignemale
Balaitous
Nethou/Aneto
Neouvielle
Pic Sauvegarde

In reply to mypyrex:

Neouvielle is "old snow".
It must hang on to its snow longer than most.

In reply to mypyrex: Pic Sauvegarde is literally Peak Safeguard (I think).

In reply to Al Evans:

Also means data backup (but I'm not absoluitely sure that's where the mountaingets it s name...)

In reply to Al Evans: I suppose that figures as it's on the Franco-Spanish border and years ago, apparently, a man "sat" at its base collecting tolls.

In reply to mypyrex:

Ben Nevis: The guy who runs the chip shop in Fort William
Fairfield: A well handicapped selection of racehorses
High Raise: Bonus for a banker
High Seat: Toddler's chair at dining table
Loft Crag: DIY extension too far?
Bowfell: Careless Archer
Great End: Ron Jeremy's CV

In reply to mypyrex: Aiguille du Midi is more likely Needle of the south

Aneto is apparently named after Dill (the plant) see http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneto

In reply to mypyrex:


Its name may come from the Occitan words "vath" (valley) and "leitosa" (milky), according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pic_du_Bala%C3%AFtous


Appears in this list of tautological placenames meaning "mount mount", but the etymology is not clearly explained: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tautological_place_names