German word which originally meant 'high mountain pass' in the Austrian Central Alps
The word Tauern (German pronunciation:[ˈtaʊ̯ɐn]ⓘ) is German and originally meant 'high
mountain pass' in the
Austrian Central Alps, referring to the many
bridleways and passes of the parallel
side valleys of the
River Salzach that cut into the mountain ranges. From the
Middle Ages, when
mining reached its heyday, the word Tauern was also used to name the corresponding ranges. The name has survived in many local placenames today.
Etymology
The derivation of the name Tauern has been variously ascribed:
One view is that the name Tauern is an old
substrate word (*taur- for 'mountain‚
mountain pass, crossing'), which passed directly (less probable) or via the
Slavic language (more likely) into
German. (The name Tauern is probably pre-Slavic, but there is also a common Slavic word, tur- 'swelling, ridge, elongated hillock', etc.).[1][2]
Another postulation is that the Tauern is the only mountain range that has kept its pre-Slavic name in Carinthia as it passed down the generations. It is derived from the Indo-Germanic *(s)teur- for 'bull; great hill'. The Tauern are so-to-speak the "bulls", the old Taurisci of Upper Carinthia, the mountain dwellers, with the old Upper Carinthian town of Teurnia being the corresponding mountain town.[3]
If the name Tauern is pre-Slavic, it could possibly be
Celtic, and thus presumably linked to the Taurisci, or it could be
Illyrian, a collective term possibly for the pre- and early Celtic population in the Alpine region. There is no clear link with the name of the municipality of
Thaur near Innsbruck, which could be analogous to the Illyrian for 'rock', but could also be derived from the
Rhaeto-Romance word Tgaura 'goat'.
Ranges
There are several mountain ranges that bear the name Tauern today. In German, the first part of these names is usually the adjectival version of a placename. It is common in English sources, however, just to use the original name without the adjectival inflexion:
The High and Low Tauern together were historically called the Tauern Alps (Tauernalpen) and are still described as such in many sources today. They also extend to the
Brenner Pass–Liesing/Palten valley, i.e. including the
Zillertal Alps.
Transport links
The following transport links facilitate the crossing of the Tauern from north to south:
The
Tauern Railway passes under the mountains through the
Tauern Tunnel between the Mallnitz Tauern and the High Tauern. This is the only north-south railway link between the
Brenner Pass in the west and the
Schober Pass in the east.
The
Katschberg Road (B99) crosses the Radstadt Tauern over the Radstadt Tauern Pass.
The
Sölk Pass crosses the Low Tauern and delineates the boundary between the Schladming and the Wölz Tauern.
The
Trieben Road (B114) crosses the Low Tauern at the village of
Hohentauern and delineates the boundary between the Rottenmann and the Triebener (Seckau) Tauern.
Passes
The following passes bear the name Tauern (from west to east):
The Felber Tauern or Windisch-Matrei Tauern (2,481 m) links the Pinzgau valley of
Felbertal with the East Tyrolean
Tauerntal, in the immediate vicinity of the Alten Tauern (2,498 m).
The Kalser Tauern (2,518 m) links the Pinzgau valley of
Stubachtal with the East Tyrolean Kalser Dorfer valley.
The Heiligenbluter or Rauris Tauern (2,576 m), commonly called the Hochtor, links the Pinzgau valley of the
Fuscher Ache with the Carinthian
Möll valley.
The Goldberg or Fragant Tauern (2,754 m) links the Pinzgau
Rauriser Tal with the Carinthian Fragant valley.
The Low Tauern, also Mallnitz Tauern and the High Tauern (2,459 m), also called the Korntauern, link the Pinzgau valley of
Gasteinertal with the Carinthian village of
Mallnitz and the Möll valley.
Corresponding to the passes there are also several places called Tauerntal ('Tauern valley'), Tauernbach ('Tauern stream') and Taurach ('Tauern river'), the latter sometimes descending from a Tauern pass in both directions.
Places
The following places also take their names from the term Tauern:
The Pongau municipality of
Untertauern below the Radstadt Tauern Pass,
The winter sports village of
Obertauern on the Radstadt Tauern Pass,
The cadastral municipality of
Untertauern from Ossiach by the Ossiach Tauern
Tauernklammhöhe (2,798 m), an insignificant summit between the
Hollersbachtal and the Felbertal in the Venediger Group. The ravine of Tauernklamm bisects its eastern flank.
Eberhard Kranzmayer: Ortsnamenbuch von Kärnten. Band 1, Die Siedlungsgeschichte Kärntens von der Urzeit bis zur Gegenwart im Spiegel der Namen. Archiv für vaterländische Geschichte und Topographie, Band 50. Verlag des Geschichtsvereines für Kärnten, Klagenfurt 1956. [4]
Willi End, Hubert Peterka: Glocknergruppe und Granatspitzgruppe – ein Führer für Täler, Hütten und Berge, verfaßt nach den Richtlinien der
UIAA. 8th, fully revised edition. Alpenvereinsführer, Zentralalpen. Bergverlag Rother, Munich, 1990,
ISBN3-7633-1258-7.
Willi End, Hubert Peterka (Begr.): Venedigergruppe – mit nördlichen Deferegger Alpen (Panargenkamm, Lasörlingkamm). Alpenvereinsführer für Täler, Hütten und Berge, verfasst nach den Richtlinien der UIAA für Wanderer, Bergsteiger und Kletterer. 5th, updated and fully revised edition. Alpenvereinsführer, Ostalpen. Bergverlag Rother, Munich, 2006,
ISBN3-7633-1242-0.
Heinz-Dieter Pohl: Die Bergnamen der Hohen Tauern. OeAV-Dokumente, Vol. 6. Österreichischer Alpenverein, Fachabteilung Raumplanung-Naturschutz, Innsbruck 2009. [5]