inselberg

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The Word of the Day for August 1 is:

inselberg   \IN-sul-berg\   noun
     : an isolated mountain

Example sentence:
     Briana tied her hiking boots, adjusted her pack, and looked out across the 
distance at an inselberg rising abruptly from the flat plain surrounding it.

Did you know?
     "Inselberg," which first appeared in English in 1913, comes from the 
German words "Insel," meaning "island," and "Berg," meaning "mountain," 
apparently because German explorers thought isolated mountains rising from the 
plains of southern Africa looked like islands in the midst of the ocean. 
Geologically speaking, an inselberg is a hill of hard volcanic rock, such as 
granite, that has resisted wind and weather and remained strong and tall as the 
land around it eroded away. Ayers Rock and Olga Rocks in central Australia are 
two spectacular examples of inselbergs. The word "monadnock," derived from the 
name of Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire, is a synonym of "inselberg."