The Mont Terrible for which the department was named is now known as Mont Terri, a peak of 804 metres (2638') near Courgenay (now in the canton of Jura, Switzerland). The toponym of Mont Terrible was formed by popular etymology from an earlier Frainc-ComtouMont Tairi, from tari "arid, dry".[citation needed]
In 1797, the former Württemberg-owned Principality of Montbéliard, which had previously been given to Haute-Saône, was reattached to Mont-Terrible, together with the remaining Swiss part of the Bishopric of Basel after the French attack to the Elvetic nation.
The department was abolished in 1800. Its territory was annexed to the Haut-Rhin, within which it formed the two arrondissements of Delémont and Porrentruy.
The Department was created on 23 March 1793 by the National Convention which decreed the French Republic and the Country of Porrentruy to be reunited under the name of the Department of Mont-Terrible.[2]
First article — The Country of Porrentruy will form a special department, under the name of Department of Mont-Terrible.
Second article — The commissioners of the National Convention, sent in this country by decree of 10 February, are responsible for taking all necessary measures to ensure the enforcement of the laws of the Republic, and to forward to the Convention all information necessary to determine the organisation and division of this department.
Third article —The Provisional Executive Council is responsible for reducing [customs] barriers, taking all necessary precautions to prevent exports in contravention of the laws of the Republic.
