Sierra (geography)
Sierra (Spanish), Serra (Portuguese, Italian, cat.), Serrano (Spanish, Portuguese) or Serranía (Spanish) is a name ( oronym ) for mountains . It is common worldwide.
Word origin
Sierra ([ sjera ] span. "Saw", from Latin . Serra ) is the pictorial designation for a rugged mountain range or a cordillera . The adjectival form serrano generally means “mountain” in the broader sense, comparable to the German alpine for Alps . The derived word serranía then corresponds to " mountain country " or " chain of hills ". Along with Cordillera, Sierra isthe most common component of mountain names .
The Portuguese equivalent is serra [ ˈsɛʀa ], the adjective is also serrano . The term also occurs in the Italian language . With the Spanish colonization , the name spread worldwide, especially in South America and the Philippines.
Mountain names
- Sierra is the common name in Ecuador and Peru for the Andes region there
- La Serra , a ridge near the Italian town of Ivrea
with additional names:
- with the addition of nevada ("snow-covered") several mountain ranges, see Sierra Nevada
- with the addition of madre ("mother") several mountain ranges, see Sierra Madre
- Sierra Maestra with the addition maestra ("great") a mountain range in eastern Cuba
- Serranía de Ronda , mountainous region in Andalusia, Spain
- serra lyoa ("lion mountains") for the mountains on the Freetown Peninsula in West Africa, today the name of the state of Sierra Leone
Others:
- Serrania (Minas Gerais) , municipality in Brazil