KE Eduljee:

Caucasian (Ghafghaz/Qafqaz) Elburz/Elbrus Mountain-2
The legacies of Aryan (ancient Iranian) influence in Caucasia include the various Aryan place names throughout Transcaucasia. An example is the name of the highest peak (5,642 m/18,510 ft above sea level) in the Greater Caucasus Mountains, Mount Elburz or Alborz – otherwise called ‘Elbrus’.
The name ‘Elbrus’/’Elburz’ is derived from the Avestan root word Hara Berezaiti which evolved to the Middle Persian/Pahlavi ‘Harborz’. The name ‘Elburz’ has off and on been assigned to portions the mountains that stretch from the Black Sea to the Pamirs. There are at least two peaks with the name ‘Elburz’ in Afghanistan. The principal northern mountain range in Iran is also called Elburz or Alborz.
In Persian, the Caucasus Mountains are called Qafqaz/Ghafghaz. This may be derived from the Sasanid Middle Persian Kafkof (Qafqof or Ghafghof).
F. Jorat in ‘Zoroastrianism in Northern Shirvan’ notes that Adam Olearius (1599 – 1671) called the Caucasus Mountains “Elburs” and wrote about sacred fires on Shah-dagh Mountain as follows: “Elburs is the part of Caucasus, bordered by Georgia and the area of Tabesseran…. Earlier Persians kept their ever-burning fire on Elburs and worshiped there. Now such fires and their worshippers (as reported Teixera and others)… fled to India….”
Also see: » Caucasia at http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/caucasia/index.htm
Images: Mt. Elbrus/Elburz. Image credits: Wikipedia and static.7summits.ru.

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