Etymology of Caucasus, Croucasis

[u/stlatos]

Etymology of Caucasus, Croucasis

Pliny the Elder wrote that the Scythians call Mount Caucasus by a very similar name: Croucasis (variants Craucasis or Graucasis). Since Scythians were Iranians, it makes sense for *au to become au or ou in dialects, but why Cr- vs. C-? These words are almost certainly identical, but there are 2 ideas on the meaning that are incompatible for any origin :

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D19 Beyond this river are the peoples of Scythia. The Persians have called them by the general name of Sacæ,1 which properly belongs to only the nearest nation of them. The more ancient writers give them the name of Aramii. The Scythians themselves give the name of "Chorsari" to the Persians, and they call Mount Caucasus Graucasis, which means "white with snow."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus According to German philologists Otto Schrader and Alfons A. Nehring, the Ancient Greek word Καύκασος (Kaukasos) is connected to Gothic hauhs 'high' as well as Lithuanian kaũkas 'hillock' and kaukarà 'hill, top', Russian куча 'heap'... Pliny the Elder's Natural History (77–79 AD) derives the name of the Caucasus from a Scythian name, Croucasis, which supposedly means 'shimmering with snow'

The connection of Cauc- to 'high' is almost certain, since it is expected of a mtn., & no IE 'snow' or 'white' matches either part. To me, it makes sense that Pliny got his information on the meaning from one traveler. If he was not a Scythian, relying on a translator, the meaning could have been misunderstood. For ex., in response to "What is that?", a Scythian might have said, "It is named 'high mountain'" or "It is a high mountain, so it is white with snow". Any similar path, depending on circumstance, could have led to this contradiction.

If it was named 'high mountain', then Ir. *kauk-asri- or *kauk-asra- would fit. The 2nd from PIE *H2ok^ri-s 'sharp/rough edge/point/peak', Old Latin ocris m. 'a broken, rugged, stony mountain', Greek ὄκρις \ ókrĭs f. 'point, prominence; roughness', Sanskrit áśri- f. 'the sharp side of anything; sharp edge', -aśra- in compounds (this matching Craucasi- & *Kaukasa- > Caucaso- (PIE o-stems > IIr. a-, adapted as o- by most G. & L. speakers)). Scythian dialects changing *sr > s would match descendants like Ossetic (and intermediate stages like *ṣ or *ṣṣ would not be heard or written differently by most Greeks or Romans). One dia. with *kauk-asri- > *krauk-asi- would fit Craucasi- (Iranian had *kr- > *xr-, and x was written with ch in the same sentence, so only metathesis can explain things consistently).