Editing Atlas (mythology) (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:Singer Sargent, John - Atlas and the Hesperides - 1925.jpg|thumb|''Atlas and the Hesperides'' by John Singer Sargent (1925).]]
The [[etymology]] of the name ''Atlas'' is uncertain. [[Virgil]] translated etymologies of Greek names by combining them with adjectives that explained them: for Atlas his adjective is ''durus'', "hard, enduring",<ref>''[[Aeneid]]'' iv.247: "''Atlantis duri''" and other instances; see Robert W. Cruttwell, "Virgil, Aeneid, iv. 247: 'Atlantis Duri'" ''The Classical Review'' '''59'''.1 (May 1945), p. 11.</ref> which suggested to George Doig that Virgil was aware of the Greek τλῆναι "to endure"; Doig offers the further possibility that Virgil was aware of [[Strabo]]'s remark that the native North African name for this mountain was ''Douris''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Doig |first=George |date=1968 |title=Vergil's Art and the Greek Language |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3296525 |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=1–6 |jstor=3296525 |issn=0009-8353}}</ref> Since the Atlas Mountains rise in the region inhabited by [[Berbers]], it has been suggested that the name might be taken from one of the [[Berber languages]], specifically from the word ''ádrār'' "mountain".<ref>Strabo, 17.3;</ref>

Traditionally historical linguists etymologize the Ancient Greek word Ἄτλας ([[genitive case|genitive]]: Ἄτλαντος) as comprised from copulative α- and the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root {{PIE|*telh₂-}} 'to uphold, support' (whence also τλῆναι), and which was later reshaped to an nt-stem.<ref name="Beekes">{{Cite book|last1=Beekes|first1=Robert|author-link=Robert Beekes|last2=van Beek|first2=Lucien|year=2010|title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek|publisher=Brill|volume=1|page=163}}</ref> However, [[Robert S. P. Beekes]] argues that it cannot be expected that this ancient Titan carries an Indo-European name, and he suggests instead that the word is of [[Pre-Greek substrate|Pre-Greek]] origin, as such words often end in ''-ant''.<ref name="Beekes" />