transalpine

/trænzˈælpɑɪn/

Other forms: transalpines

Use the adjective transalpine to describe people who live just north of the Alps, like your friend who lives in southern Germany.

You're most likely to hear the word transalpine in a geography or earth science class. It assumes that you are looking north from Italy, toward the mountain range known as the Alps, and that you're talking about something on the far side of them. The prefix trans, "across" in Latin, along with alpine, which means "of the Alps," gives us the meaning "across the Alps."

Definitions of transalpine

1. adjective

   on or relating to or characteristic of the region or peoples beyond the Alps from Italy (or north of the Alps)
   “ancient transalpine Gaul was an area northwest of the Alps and included modern France and Belgium”

   “Cracow was a transalpine university”

   synonyms: ultramontane

   tramontane, transmontane

   on or coming from the other side of the mountains (from the speaker)
2. noun

   one living on or coming from the other side of the Alps from Italy
   type of:

   foreigner, outsider

   someone who is excluded from or is not a member of a group