Mount Pisgah
- proper noun
- Literature
- Moses stood on Mount Pisgah to see the Promised Land.
Examples
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On their road trip, they stopped at Mount Pisgah State Park for a picnic lunch.
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At dawn, the hikers reached the summit of Mount Pisgah and were rewarded with a spectacular view.
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The story of Moses on Mount Pisgah is often referenced in religious discussions.
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Have you ever visited Mount Pisgah in Jordan?
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Moses stood on Mount Pisgah to see the Promised Land.
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At dawn, the hikers reached the summit of Mount Pisgah and were rewarded with a spectacular view.
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Have you ever visited Mount Pisgah in Jordan?
Surface Forms
Morphology
mount + Pisgah
The word 'mount' clearly signals a mountain, so a learner who knows the constituents can infer that this refers to a mountain named Pisgah. However, 'Pisgah' is a proper name with no transparent lexical meaning and the specific biblical/cultural sense (Moses viewing the Promised Land) cannot be derived from the parts. Because the basic referent is compositional but the full encyclopedic meaning is not, the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Mount Pisgah gets its name from the Bible, where Moses climbed a mountain and stood on it to look over the Promised Land. Because this gives a clear picture of someone on a high place seeing far, places called Mount Pisgah are often hills or parks known for their 'view' or 'lookout'.