MOUNT, MOUNTAIN (Heb. w; Gr. ὄρος ; Celt. tor ?).—In Dn 2®-* the Aram. 7 {dr is tr* ‘moun- tain.’ The word 1 is also pretty frequently tr* in AV ‘hill,’ as in Ps 2° and 6815.16 In most of these instances RV has with advantage substituted the rendering ‘mount’ or ‘mountain.’ See, further, on this subject, and on the distinction between ὦ and πω». art. HILL. It is clear that the AV trans-
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MOUNT, MOUNTAIN
MOUNT, MOUNTAIN
lators used ‘mountain,’ ‘mount,’ and ‘hill’ inter- changeably. The distinction between these terms has never been clearly recognized, even down to the present day ; and we cannot feel surprise that it was not so recognized by the translators of the AV. Thus, if we take the word ‘mountain’ to signify a range or group of high elevations, we are met by the same word as applied to Moriah, a single elevated summit amongst the hills of Pales- tine, the scene of Abraham’s intended sacrifice, elsewhere called ‘the mount’ (cf. Gn 22? and 22"), Yet, upon a general comparison of the passages in which these terms are used, it appears clear that the word ‘mount’ is more frequently applied to some specialized summit or elevation, such as Carmel (Jos 1955), Hermon (Jos 115), Sinai (Ex 19? et passim, except y.’), and Seir (Dt 13), while ‘mountain’ is used to designate an extensive district of elevated ground, such as those of Moab (Gn 19”), South Canaan (Nu 13”), Gilboa (2S 1*).
Amongst geographers, the terms ‘mountain’ and ‘hill’ are generally used as relative terms to designate the higher and lower elevations in special countries. Thus we apply the term ‘moun- tain’ to those of North Wales as being the highest elevations in 5, Britain, mows ae are really lower in height than those of the Jura, which are generally called ‘hills,’ as being of less elevation than the neighbouring Alps. All that can be said on this point is that geographers have not settled the question at what elevation above the sea a ‘hill’ becomes a ‘ mountain.’
ORIGIN.—Without entering at ay Eat length into the question of the mode of formation of mountains, which would be here out of place, it may be stated that in the great majority of cases they are referable to three natural modes of formation, namely (1) elevation, (2) erosion, and (3) accumulation: of these three modes we have examples in Palestine and the regions around.
1. by elevation.—Many mountain ranges owe their origin to direct elevation en masse at various ancient geological periods, above the surface of the ocean, or the general level of the adjoining lands. Some of these have been upraised at successive intervals of time, and from very early
eriods have preserved their dominant characters. Mo this class may be referred the Scandinavian and Grampian ranges, that of North Wales, the Bavarian (or Hereynian) Highlands, and the Sinaitie group between the Gulfs of Suez and of ‘Akabah. This last probably existed as a part of an extensive tract of continental land in Palzozoic times, and has maintained its dominant position down to the θεοῦ day during the general sub- mergence of the adjoining regions in the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. The Alps and Pyrenees received their final and probably most important upheaval in late Tertiary times.
2. By erosion.—In various parts of the globe mountain groups or ranges have been formed, owing to the erosion of valleys amongst previously existing tablelands. When the floor of the ocean has been upraised into dry land in the form of a plateau, consisting of approximately horizontal (or even inclined) strata, rain and river action sets in, owing to which channels of ever-increasing depth and breadth are eroded, thus carving the plateau into separate and independent mountain masses if the process is sufficiently prolonged. In this manner the great ranges of the Colorado in North America, the lesser group of Central and South Wales, the range of the Jura on the borders of Switzerland; and, in Eastern countries, those of Upper Egypt, Edom and Moab, and of Southern Gade have been formed. The Lebanon range owes its predominant position, with its culminating dome-like mass of Hermon (? Mount Hor, Nu 347-8),
which formed the northern limit of the land given to Israel, to direct elevation followed by erosion, by which the deep valleys and ravines have been worn down through an original tableland in late Tertiary and post-Tertiary times. The range of Edom and Moab, stretching from the Gulf of ‘Akabah to the shore of the Dead Sea, is doubtless originally due to the elevation of the Arabian tableland from the bed of the ocean along one or more lines of fracture (or ‘fault’) in the crust of the earth, but has subsequently been carved out into many distinct summits by river erosion at a period when the rainfall was more abundant than at ese (see ARABAH); and amongst these Mount
or (Jebel Haroun), the scene of Aaron’s death, is the most conspicuous example (Nu 20”: 7),
3. By accumulation.—To this third class of mountains nearly all those of modern volcanic origin may be referred. During eruptions of volcanoes, either upon the surface of the land or upon the floor of the sea, molten lava is poured forth in sheets or streams from the throat of the crater in each case, together with solid blocks of lava, showers of ashes, and lapilli, which spread over the flanks of the mountain and adjoining tracts, and ultimately rise in piled-up masses to varying heights in the form of truncated cones or domes. ‘The most familiar examples are the groups of Auvergne in Central France, and the isolated Mounts of Vesuvius and Etna. The regions adjoin- ing Eastern Palestine present numerous examples of voleanic mountains. In the region east of the Upper Jordan, called in the NT Trachonitis, but now known as the Jaulfin and Haurdn, there are several distinct voleanic cones rising above the general surface of the country ;* and still farther eastwards, in the wild region of the Lejah, a grand range of volcanic mountains dominates the wide expanse of lava-fields of Bashan. Similar features are to be observed in parts of Central Arabia, and were little known until brought to our knowledge by a recent traveller.t Here, not far from the cities of Mecca and Medina, a group of volcanic mountains rises above the expanse of the Arabian Desert, from which lava-floes descend to the plain. In all these districts of Arabia volcanic action has long been extinct; perhaps even before the appearance of man.t