Mountain
Middle English: from Old French montaigne, based on Latin mons, mont- ‘mountain’.
wiktionary
From Middle English mountayne, mountain, montaigne, from Anglo-Norman muntaine, muntaigne, from Old French montaigne, from Vulgar Latin *montānea, feminine of *montāneus(“mountainous”), alteration of Latin montānus, from mōns(“mountain”), from Proto-Indo-European *monti (compare Welsh mynydd(“mountain”), Albanian mat(“bank, shore”), Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬙𐬌 (mati, “promontory”)), from *men-(“to project, stick out”). Displaced native Middle English berwe, bergh, from Old English beorg (whence English barrow); and partially displaced non-native Old English munt, from Latin mōns (whence English mount).
etymonline
mountain (n.)
"natural elevation rising more or less abruptly and attaining a conspicuous height," c. 1200, from Old French montaigne (Modern French montagne), from Vulgar Latin *montanea "mountain, mountain region," noun use of fem. of *montaneus "of a mountain, mountainous," from Latin montanus "mountainous, of mountains," from mons (genitive montis) "mountain" (from PIE root *men- (2) "to project").
Until 18c., applied to a fairly low elevation if it was prominent (such as Sussex Downs or the hills around Paris); compare hill (n.). As an adjective, "of or situated on a mountain," from late 14c.
Mountain dew "raw and inferior whiskey" is attested by 1839; earlier a type of Scotch whiskey (1816); Jamieson's 1825 "Supplement" to his Scottish dictionary defines it specifically as "A cant term for Highland whisky that has paid no duty." Mountain-climber is recorded from 1839; mountain-climbing from 1836. Mountain laurel is from 1754; mountain-lion "puma" is from 1849, American English; the mountain goat of the Western U.S. is so called by 1841 (by 1827 as Rocky Mountain goat).
