THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE 



239 



Manitoba, in his report for 1915, describes the four 

 species of deer found in the Province as "moose 

 deer, elk deer, jumping deer, and cariboo." The 

 animal called "jumping deer" in Manitoba is 

 called "red deer" in the Report of the Game and 

 Fisheries Department of the Province of Ontario 

 issued in 1915. The name "jumping deer" is 

 not likely to be misunderstood by anyone who has 

 seen the whitetail in rapid flight, but a European 

 might easily interpret "red deer" as meaning the 

 wapiti or "elk deer," since the wapiti is a close 

 kinsman of the European red deer (Cervus elaphus). 



The European elk, like his brother the American 

 moose, seems fated to be lost in a maze of etymo- 

 logical confusion. Richard Lydekker, the English 

 zoologist, writes: "By the ancient Greeks. . . . 

 the great stag we now call the elk was regarded 

 as the personification of strength, and was accord- 

 ingly named alee, from d'XKrj, strength. From this 

 comes the Latin alces, the German Elend, the 

 French elan, and the English elk.'^"^ Mr. Lydekker 

 is evidently less of a linguist than he is paleontol- 

 ogist and naturalist. 



The Greek word for strength is aXKrj, while the 



4 The Great and Small Game of Europe, Western and Northern Asia 

 and America (London, 1901), p. 42. 



