Think of standing on a road that climbs. Behind and below you the land is flat, warm and full of fields and towns; ahead of you it lifts into hills that go on and on, cooler, emptier, harder to farm. The word names that upper half — not one hill, but the whole raised region, and always by contrast with the low ground it sits above. Everything else the word does comes from that one contrast, including the moment when a particular high region is used so often that the description turns into its name.
From high + lands; the plural is what makes it a region rather than a single hill. The Scottish name is a specific application of the same ordinary word.
由 high（高的）加 lands（土地）組成；複數形正是讓它變成「一片地區」而不是一座山的關鍵。蘇格蘭的 the Highlands 只是同一個普通字被固定用在特定地方的結果。
Wiktionary etymology_text supplied in this packet: 'From high + lands' (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1482429036) and 'Specific application of highlands, equivalent to high + lands' (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1262134753)
Two branches
高起來的一整片土地
這一支就是核心畫面本身：任何國家裡相對高、相對冷、相對難耕作的那一大片地。
noun · B1
The part of a country where the land is high, with mountains and hills, thought of as one whole area and set against the lower, flatter land around it; nearly always used in the plural, and often with the.
高地／山區
被叫成名字的那一片：蘇格蘭高地
同一個普通名詞，被蘇格蘭人專門拿來指北部那一大片山區，講久了就固定成大寫的專有名稱。這是使用習慣造成的結果，不是另一個來源。
noun · B1
The Highlands is the mountainous area in the north of Scotland, with high open moors, lakes, and small villages; the lower, flatter south of Scotland is called the Lowlands.
（蘇格蘭）高地地區
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
Highlandsname
The mountainous northern area of Scotland.
A town in Orange County, New York, United States.
A borough of Monmouth, New Jersey, United States.
A locality in the Shire of Mitchell and the Shire of Murrindindi, central Victoria, Australia.
highlandsnoun
A high area of land, lands higher than surrounding areas.
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。