Linguistically, the word Aladagh comes from the Turkic branch of the Altaic language family (- and, more specifically, from the Khorasani Turkic language ) and consists of two parts, ala and dagh /dag. Ala means variegated, patchwork, particoloured or speckled and dagh means mountain, and therefore the word Aladagh means (the) variegated or speckled mountain (range).The concept of a 'speckled mountain' is also a very common one in Ireland and Scotland, where the epithet in question is breac ( Goidelic Celtic for 'speckled or 'spotted' (see also Barmbrack )) as in the Brack and Ben Vrackie. This is hardly surprising, given the fact that combinations of varicoloured rocks, different types and densities of vegetation and cloud shadows often conspire to give mountains a piebald or speckled appearance, lending to their (already considerable) aesthetic appeal.