roof of the world

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High Asia: the roof of the world

Today, the roof of the world is a metaphorical name for the highest regions of Central Asia , which in the Tibetan highlands also represent the most extensive land mass in the world, rising over 4,500 m into the atmosphere on average. Often this designation is still used for smaller or partial areas of this greater region, for example for

Pamir highlands: localization

In older reference works, however, the term is used exclusively for the Pamir highlands , according to the Große Brockhaus from 1928 ff .: “Roof of the world, designation for the highlands of → Pamir” or The Columbia Encyclopedia from 1942. The latter explains the word “Pamir "Even as a Persian word meaning" roof of the world ", as well as the Encyclopaedia Britannica (" Bam-i-dunya = Roof of the World ") - and this word is also used on Pamir's English homepages as the" roof of the world " interpreted. The designation goes to John Wood (1812-1871) back, a Scottish explorer who as a naval officer on behalf of the English East India Company , theExplored the Indus region and the Pamir valleys. In 1838 he reported that the "native expression" Bam-i-Duniah or " Roof of the World " (probably from the Iranian Wachi dialect) was common for the Pamirs.

Pamir, the original "roof of the world". panorama

According to Großem Brockhaus, on the other hand, the word “Pamir” is Turkish and means “cold steppe pasture.” The Pamir highlands are “the junction of the mountain systems of the Tianshan , Kun-lun, Karakoram, Himalayas and Hindu Kush, hence the name of the roof of the world” Brockhaus editions is however “therefore” replaced by “also” and the Pamir as “node of large mountain systems” is defined somewhat differently: “ Tian Shan , Alai Mountains , Trans-Alai , Kunlun , Karakoram and Hindu Kush ”.

Since the awakening of public interest in Tibet, however, the Pamir Highlands have stepped out of the limelight as the “best explored region of High Asia” at the beginning of the 20th century, and the name “roof of the world” has increasingly been transferred to Tibet.

The summit of Mount Everest , the highest point on earth, is also known - especially in French - as the “roof of the world” (“Toît du monde”).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Big Brockhaus in 20 volumes . Leipzig 1928–1935, Volume 4, p. 319
  2. ^ The Columbia Encyclopedia, 1942 ed., P. 1335
  3. ↑ Columbia Encyclopedia "Pamir - the Pamirs (Persian = roof of the world)"
  4. ↑ Pamirs . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 20 : Ode - Payment of Members . London 1911, p. 655 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]). "Pamirs, a mountainous region of central Asia ... the Bam-i-dunya ('The Roof of the World')"
  5. ^ The Pamirs ( Memento of December 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), a region they know as POMIR - "the roof of the world".
  6. ^ John Keay: When Men and Mountains Meet: The Explorers of the Western Himalayas, 1820–1875 . Oxford University Press, Oxford / London 1983 ISBN 0-19-577465-5 p. 153 ISBN 0-7126-0196-1
  7. ↑ see also: Rudolf Köster: Proper names in German vocabulary: A lexicon . de Gruyter 2002, ISBN 978-3-11-017702-2 , p. 132
  8. ↑ The Big Brockhaus in 20 volumes . 15th edition. Leipzig 1928–1935, Volume 14 (1933), p. 96 ( online )
  9. ↑ ibid.
  10. ↑ The New Brockhaus . Wiesbaden 1975, Volume 4, p. 121
  11. ↑ Translated from: Pamirs . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 20 : Ode - Payment of Members . London 1911, p. 655 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  12. ↑ z. B. Encyclopédié et Dictionaires Larousse or French WP when entering “Toit du monde” ,
    or Photo: Toît du Monde     ( Memento from June 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ).