>The Iranic etymology being rechecked by Piotr might make
> some sense if the perspective was that of a judgement passed by a
> later population on the tremendous kurgans of the Scythians which
> they "inherited". These could indeed appear to be "magic
>mountains".
Danish mounds _are_ magic mountains. They are known to rise on four
red-hot glowing pillars at midnight while their inhabitants, the
elverfolk, party. The women will try to lure human men passing by
with them into the mound, but beware! Their backs are hollow, that's
how you tell them from humans. Cf Goethe's 'Erlkönig', based the
Danish folkevise ' Hr. Oluf' (some French essayist mentioned it as an
example of everything that the French love about the Germans), and
several of Andersen's tales.
Torsten