THE NAMES OF THE MOOSE 241 



Various American writers give Eland and Elend 

 as German words meaning elk, and, as Elend in 

 German means misery, they assume that the 

 Germans bestowed this appellation on the elk 

 on account of its awkwardness and homeliness.* 

 According to Meyers's Grosses Konversations-Lexi- 

 kon, the German names for the elk are Elch and 

 EleUy and Elen, according to Meyers, is derived 

 from the Lithuanian word elnis, meaning stag. 

 Larousse also, the French lexicographer, derives 

 elan, the French word for elk, from the Lithuanian. 

 Elend was a former spelling for Elen in German, 

 but is now practically obsolete. There is no 

 reason to believe that the moose is as unhappy 

 as his ungainly movements and unattractive facial 

 characteristics might be thought to indicate, and 

 it is pleasing to be able to refute the slander 

 implied by the assumption that he is known any- 

 where by a name denoting misery. 



In various texts which have survived of Pliny's 

 Naturalis Historia the moose (or elk) is denomi- 

 nated achlis or machlis, as well as alces. From 

 Pliny is taken the scientific name Jlces machlts, 



^ Seventh Report, N. Y. Forest, Fish, and Game Commission, p. 225, 

 Even Kapherr {Das Elchwild, p. 56) says the Elend was given this 

 name because of the suffering which he endures from various bodily 

 ailments. 

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