To mount something is to climb onto it or get on top of it, like a horse or a bike. It can also mean to fix something in place, such as putting a picture in a frame or on a wall, or to organize and launch something, like an attack or a campaign.
From Old French *monter* “to go up, to climb,” from Latin *montare* “to mount,” based on *mons, mont-* “mountain.” The connection is the idea of going upward or onto something raised.
The same root that gives us “mountain” gives us “to mount,” so the word always carries a sense of going up or onto. That’s why we talk about “mounting pressure” or “mounting an attack”—they’re ideas that are climbing in intensity. Language quietly recycles the same motion metaphors everywhere.
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