Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ALP, or ALPS, n. [Qu. Gr. αλφος, white; L. albus. The Celts called all high mountains alpes or olbe. Cluver. Thucydides mentions a castle, in the territory of Argos, situated on a hill, and called Olpas or Olp. Lib. 3. Ca. 105. Pelloutier, Hist. des Celtes, Liv. 1. 15. The derivation of the word from αλφος, white, is therefore doubtful. In Ir. or Gaelic, ailp is a huge mass or lump.]

A high mountain. The name, it is supposed, was originally given to mountains whose tops were covered with snow, and hence appropriately applied to the mountains of Switzerland; so that by Alps is generally understood the latter mountains. But geographers apply the name to any high mountains. – Pinkerton.