English words for trees, plants and animals. English-norwegian dictionary.

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Skaukraft

Settler
Apr 8, 2012
539
4
Norway
In my own interesst, I would like to learn the english common name for a variety of trees, plants and animals.
Many I already know, but some I don't.

I will add to the list underway, but here is for starters:

English: Latin Norsk (Norewgian)
Goat Willow - Salix Caprea - Selje
Downy Birch - Betula pubescens - Bjoerk
Silver Birch? - Betula pendula - Hengebjoerk
Birch? - Betula nana - Fjellbjoerk
Pine - Pinus sylvestris - Furu
Spurce - Picea abies - Gran
Ash - Fraxinus excelsior - Ask
Mountain Ash ? - Sorbus aucuparia - Rogn
Alder ? - Alnus incae/glutinosa - Or
Aspen - Populus tremula - Osp/Asp
Juniper - Juniperus communis - Einer
Bird cherry - Prunus padus - Hegg
Limewood - Tilia cordate - Lind
?? - Bistorta vivipara - Harerug
Blueberry - Vaccinium myrtillus - Blaabaer
Cowberry - Vaccinium vitis-idaea - Tyttebaer
Cloud berry? - Rubus chamaemorus - Multe/Molte
Fatwood - ?? - Tyri
 
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downy Birch - Betula pubescens - Bjoerk
silver Birch - Betula pendula - Hengebjoerk
i don't recognise betula nana

mountain ash is also known as rowan

and that's it off the top of my head
 
quick google on the Alnus and as far as i'm aware i've only ever seen Alnus glutinosa in the UK, which is just called common alder. someone may come along and tell me that i'm wrong though, it could well be that i don't know the difference between the two plants!
 
"bird cherry" is a bit missleading and can be many of the cherries. Thats the problem with common names. Even so called english names over the pond are completely different species to ours. Hornbeam and beech for instance, also lime basswood etc.
 
Nice work guys. Thanks a lot.
I have a more complete list stored somewhere, bur I am workin of two different computers at the moment, and one of them is not to good.
The reason why I started this list years ago was that I read a lot of stuff bout indian (the native american kind) arts, crafts and cooking for a while, and needed to learn what is what.
I'll add more to the list later.
 
There are two sources I turn to for species name translation. One is http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/, which is an online plant guide, maintained by the Swedish Museum of Natural History. It is in Swedish, but if you type in a name in Latin, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, English or German it will find the entry. While all the lovely text is in Swedish, right there on top is the name of the plant in all of those languages.

The second source is a book Biologisk artlista, which gives various species names in English, Latin and Swedish. Sadly out of print, but definitely a usefull source if one is a biology geek (which I am).
 
Thanks mate. Never seen that site before. A bit embaressing really, since Carl von Linné was one of my childhood heroes, and was the one to give name to my favourite flower, the Linnea Borealis.
Reading and understanding swedish is no problem, so I guess I will spend most of this saturday reading:D
 
Interesting thread :)

When I was studying biology we had to learn latin names, which I found a real chore, but then you realise the beauty and importance of Linneas's system when you speak to folk in other countries.
I was on a resarch trip in Finland last year with biologists and foresters from several countries, and there was much confusion whwn we used our own names for species, eg moose/elk, elk/red deer, reindeer/caribou, cowberry/lingonberry. All was resolved by using the Latin names.
 
Thanks mate. Never seen that site before. A bit embaressing really, since Carl von Linné was one of my childhood heroes, and was the one to give name to my favourite flower, the Linnea Borealis.
Reading and understanding swedish is no problem, so I guess I will spend most of this saturday reading:D

Well, I expected you to understand it, but for some strange reason most people here do not.

The book is an utterly booring reference work: just lists of names in three columns, sorted by all three languages (i.e. everything is there three times). Very usefull when checking up scientifitc texts, but with the horror of common names I expect that there one will be lost lots of times (many common names for some plants, the same name used for different plants in different regions, etc); this is why botanists use latin almost excusively.

If one is lucky enought to have a plant guide in the local language one can use the latin as a sort of lingua franca (e.g. mjölke, hmm that is Epilobium angustifolium... goes to UK plant guide... Epilobium, there we have it Rosebay willowherb). Which incidentally is one of the evil ones, with at least 10 common names in Swedish.
 
And to add to the confusion, Epilobium angustifolium is called Riverweed in the area around Manchester, UK, and Fireweed in parts of Canada. Confusing or what?

I actually knew abut the Fireweed name (Petersens Field Guide to Edible Plants, from the 1980s).
The Swedish synonyms includes a trap for the unwary translator: one of them is "rävsvans", litterally "foxtail" (and the similiar "rävrumpa"[1] has also been used for Equisetum arvense, a totally different plant).

[1] "Fox bum" (as in derriere, but more down to earth)
 

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