Editing K2 (section)

== Name ==
[[File:K2 by Montgomery.jpg|thumb|left|[[Thomas George Montgomerie|Montgomerie]]'s original sketch from 1856 in which he applied the notation ''K2'']]
The name ''K2'' is derived from the notation used by the [[Great Trigonometrical Survey]] of [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]]. [[Thomas George Montgomerie|Thomas Montgomerie]] made the first survey of the [[Karakoram]] from [[Mount Haramukh]], some {{cvt|130|mi|km|order=flip}} to the south, and sketched the two most prominent peaks, labeling them ''K1'' and ''K2'', where the ''K'' stands for ''Karakoram''.<ref>Curran, p. 25</ref>

The policy of the Great Trigonometrical Survey was to use local names for mountains wherever possible{{efn|The most obvious exception to this policy was [[Mount Everest]], where the [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]] name Chomolungma (Qomolongma) was probably known, but ignored in order to pay tribute to [[George Everest]]. See Curran, pp. 29–30}} and K1 was found to be known locally as [[Masherbrum]]. K2, however, appeared not to have acquired a local name—possibly due to its remoteness. The mountain is not visible from [[Askole]], one of the highest settlements on the way to the mountain, nor from the nearest habitation to the north. K2 is only fleetingly glimpsed from the end of the [[Baltoro Glacier]], beyond which few local people would have ventured.<ref name="Curran30">Curran, p. 30</ref> The name ''Chogori'', derived from two [[Balti language|Balti]] words, ''chhogo'' ཆོ་གྷའོ་ ("big") and ''ri'' རི ("mountain") (چھوغوری)<ref>{{cite web|title=Convert Roman into Urdu Script|website=changathi.com|url=http://urdu.changathi.com/}}</ref> has been suggested as a local name,<ref name=et-names>{{cite news|url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/243567/place-names--ii/|title=Place names – II|work=The Express Tribune|date=2 September 2011|access-date=4 September 2011}}</ref> but evidence for its widespread use is scant. It may have been a compound name invented by Western explorers<ref name="aaj_1983_carter"/> or simply a bemused reply to the question "What's that called?"<ref name="Curran30"/> It does, however, form the basis for the name ''Qogir'' ({{zh|s=乔戈里峰|t=喬戈里峰|p=Qiáogēlǐ Fēng}}) by which Chinese authorities officially refer to the peak. Other local names have been suggested including ''Lamba Pahar'' ("Tall Mountain" in Urdu) and ''Dapsang'', but these are not widely used.<ref name="Curran30"/>

With the mountain lacking a local name, the name ''Mount Godwin-Austen'' was suggested in honour of [[Henry Haversham Godwin-Austen|Henry Godwin-Austen]], an early explorer of the area. While the name was rejected by the [[Royal Geographical Society]],<ref name="Curran30"/> it was used on several maps and continues to be used occasionally.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/pakistan/ Pakistan]. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].</ref><ref name="aaj_1975_carter"/>

The surveyor's mark, K2, therefore continues to be the name by which the mountain is commonly known. It is now also used in the [[Balti language]], rendered as ''Kechu'' or ''Ketu''<ref name="aaj_1983_carter"/><ref name="carter_ketu">Carter, ''op cit''. Carter notes a generalisation of the word ''Ketu'': "A new word, ''ketu'', meaning 'big peak', seems to be entering the Balti language."</ref> ({{langx|bft|کے چو}}, {{langx|ur|کے ٹو}}). The Italian climber [[Fosco Maraini]] argued in his account of the ascent of [[Gasherbrum IV]] that while the name of K2 owes its origin to chance, its clipped, impersonal nature is highly appropriate for such a remote and challenging mountain. He concluded that it was:

{{blockquote|...&nbsp;just the bare bones of a name, all rock and ice and storm and abyss. It makes no attempt to sound human. It is atoms and stars. It has the nakedness of the world before the first man—or of the cindered planet after the last.<ref>{{cite book |title=Karakoram: the ascent of Gasherbrum IV |last=Maraini |first=Fosco |author-link=Fosco Maraini |year=1961 |publisher=Hutchinson }} Quoted in Curran, p. 31.</ref>}}

[[André Weil]] named [[K3 surface]]s in mathematics partly after the beauty of the mountain K2.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Lectures on K3 Surfaces [review] |first=Felipe |last=Zaldivar |date=19 September 2017 |work=MAA Reviews |publisher=Mathematical Association of America |url=https://old.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/lectures-on-k3-surfaces |access-date=26 September 2024 |archive-date=29 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170629034724/http://www.maa.org/press/maa-reviews/lectures-on-k3-surfaces |url-status=live}}</ref>