238 KRISTIAN MSSKN. M.-N. Kl. 



LAPPONIAN LICHEN NAMES 



KRISTIAN NISSEN. 



In the c'dninion Norwegian parlance the termini 'Lichen' (Norw.: la\i 

 and 'Moss' (Norw.: mose) are often contused. .\t least several of our most 

 important lichens are generally called 'moss' (Norw. : mose). The common 

 name for Cladoiiia raiigifcrina (sensu latiore) is simply moss (Norw.: mose, 

 renmose, rensmaassaa, or the like). And Cetraria is/ni/dira is called Iceland 

 moss, bread-moss, food-moss (Norw. : islandsk mose, bredmose, matmaassaa, 

 or the like). These examples could be multiplied. 



This is not the case in Lapponian parlance. The Laplanders never 

 designate a lichen with the same name as a moss, and never a moss with 

 the same name as a lichen; there is no linguistic confusion betw^een lichen 

 and moss in their language. And in general the nomadic Laplanders — 

 often also the settled ones — have a fairly good knowledge of many 01 

 the most common lichens, they distinguish between them and they do not 

 confuse them with the surrounding mosses. 



Most probably this knowledge of the lichens is due to the reindeer. 

 The reindeer practically eats all accessible lichens, but — perhaps with one 

 insignificant exception — they do not touch the mosses. 



We might, accordingly, have expected a Lapponian name for the entire 

 botanical section 'Licliriis\ apart of the specific names. But this is not the case. 

 The Laplandei\s divide the lichens in several sections, designated by entirely 

 different termini. This is in part due to the different habitus of the diffé- 

 rent lichen species, in pait to a peculiarity of the Lapponian language: It 

 is very rich in special termini, but often poor as to generalisations.' 



In his treatise 'Lappiske plantenavne' (Lapponian Plant Names), Nyt 

 Magasin for Naturvidenskaberne vol. 39, Kristiania 190T, p. 303 — 326,3. 

 QviGSTAD has also stated the names of several lichens — his numbers 38, 



' Nielsen, Konrad : „Lappisk som gjenstand for videnskabelig forskning" (The Lapponian 

 language as an object for scientific study), Kristiania 1912, p. 4 — 8, and Qvigstad. J.: 

 „Det finske (i. e. lappiske) sprog" (The Lapponian language) in Otterbech, J.: Kultur- 

 værdier hos Norges finner (Cultural values of the Norwegian Laplanders). Kristiania 

 1920, especially p. 67. 



