Thematic cartography / 2024

Moose-nomers

Moose Territory and Terminology

A map of where Alces alces lives and the names it goes by, from moose and orignal to Elch, Älg, Łoś, and Hirvi.

QGIS
Adobe Illustrator

World map of moose range across North America, Scandinavia, and Russia, colored by the language family of each region’s name for the animal, with a legend of names such as Moose, Elch, Älg, Los, and Hirvi — Map by Jesse Friend. Select the image to explore it at full size.

A closer look

On a trip back to the US, I saw a moose in Northern Minnesota. When I shared that in English, I was met with confused faces. Translating to German didn’t help: Elch translates back into English as elk.

Germanic languages don’t distinguish between the two animals, and English speakers outside North America often call both of them elk. In North America, moose and the Canadian French orignal come from Algonquian languages. This map shows the moose’s range, colored by the language family behind each region’s name for it.