Inger Marie Gaup Eira |
Written by Inger Marie Gaup Eira |
Tuesday, 20 October 2009 10:56 |
SNOW TERMINOLOGY AND REINDEER HERDING
Knowledge about snow and snow condition has not been developed by accident, but because it is necessary to survive under extremely challenging and constantly changing climatic conditions.
In Sámi language, particular in reindeer herding, there is a well developed vocabulary regarding reindeer herding, reindeer and topics that are affected by reindeer herding. In addition to snow terminology, there is a rich terminology with reference to body shape, body condition and behavior characteristics. Reindeer her The Sámi snow terminology shows that it is necessary to differentiate between different snow profiles, its shows their need to characterize guohtun, and it shows that it is important for them to be able to follow traces in the snow and to recognize these traces.
EALÁT is a project in the International Polar Year program. It is an interdisciplinary intercultural study to assess the vulnerability of coupled human-ecological systems in the Arctic to increasingly significant impacts of global warming and climate change on reindeer, reindeer herding, and herding society – especially, snow change. EALÁT is a Sámi word with the meaning “something to live on (especially for reindeer), and it originates from word eallit which means ‘to live’. Related Articles/Posts |