{"id":8434,"date":"2019-12-09T14:04:42","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T13:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/destination.hemsida365.se\/2019\/12\/09\/what-do-the-names-reveal\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T14:27:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T12:27:52","slug":"what-do-the-names-reveal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/2019\/12\/09\/what-do-the-names-reveal\/","title":{"rendered":"What do the names reveal?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The compass is laid out on the map of the Padjelanta Trail with all its beautiful but tongue-twisting names, such as Sjnjuvtjudis, Njierek, and Gievgessuoloj. What do these Lule Sami names mean, and is it possible to interpret the nature solely through them? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

To fully understand the Sami place names, one might need to be a professor in Sami languages, or something close to it, to keep track of all the meanings of North, Lule, Ume, and South Sami words. However, it is still possible to learn some commonly recurring words that can give a small hint about what lies behind the next bend. <\/p>\n\n

We start in V\u00e1is\u00e1luokta in the north, where the Padjelanta Trail begins or ends, depending on how you look at it. Here lies a Sami settlement of the same name, but you’ll probably never hear anyone staying there say anything other than V\u00e1is\u00e1. Perhaps the explanation is that the word luokta means “bay,” and since no one has their reindeer herder’s cabin in the bay but on dry land, the addition of luokta isn’t worth mentioning. The same applies to places like Staloluokta and Saltoluokta, which are therefore simply called Stalo and Salto. <\/p>\n\n

If you start your hike in \u00c4nonjalmme, it might be interesting to know that njalmme means river mouth, which is exactly the case. From here, the river Vuojat\u00e4dno flows out from \u00c1hkaj\u00e1vvre, which is actually a 60-kilometer-long reservoir upstream from the Suorva dam and the Vietas power plant. Originally, there were five large lakes here, one of which was \u00c1hkaj\u00e1vvre, named after the mighty mountain massif \u00c1hkka. The word \u00c1hkka means old woman, married woman, or wife, and has a mythological connection. But to complicate matters, there’s an adjective with the same spelling that suddenly means “richly grown with grass,” so you can never be entirely certain. The word j\u00e1vrre you’ve probably already figured out means lake. <\/p>\n\n

There are several variants to describe a lake. Jaure\/j\u00e1vrre, \u00e1vrre or haure\/h\u00e1vrre. The latter word is used for larger lakes, for example Virihaure, which is the area’s largest and, according to many, also the most beautiful. Lake Kutjaure\/Guvtj\u00e1vrre is a somewhat smaller lake whose name signals that trout likely can be found here. A luoppal, however, is a smaller pond or some type of calm water in a stream. <\/p>\n\n

Back to the river Vuojat\u00e4dno that flows from \u00c1hkkaj\u00e1vvre. \u00c4dno means river while Vuojat describes a swimming spot for reindeer. <\/p>\n\n

On the western side of the Padjelanta Trail are the mountains Boainotj\u00e5hkk\u00e5 and Gasskastj\u00e5hkk\u00e5. Tj\u00e5hkk\u00e5 means mountain peak, which is easy to confuse with j\u00e5hk\u00e5, meaning stream. J\u00e5g\u00e5sj, however, is a small stream. G\u00e5rttje is a waterfall and g\u00e5rss\u00e5 a deep stream ravine. The word gasskas refers to the place between something, two mountains or two lakes for example. <\/p>\n\n

Mountains can also have different designations. Besides tj\u00e5hkk\u00e5, which denotes a prominent mountain peak, the words vare\/v\u00e1rre mean mountain or fell, and the word oajve indicates a main mountain with a round contour. A g\u00e1jsse is, however, a pointed steep mountain peak and v\u00e1r\u00e1sj a small mountain. The completely unpronounceable name Sjnjuvtjudis \u2013 please ask a local to pronounce it, listen, and then forget the spelling \u2013 is a descriptive name for an elongated peak with an abrupt end to the east. Nulppe is a treeless rocky knoll while huornnasj is a side mountain in relation to a higher one. Finally, njunjes is a protruding mountain or fell spur. Did you follow all that? <\/p>\n\n

Some other words that might be good to know are giedde, which is a natural meadow or grazing ground, and \u00e1ra which describes boulder terrain. If the word gieve is included in the name, you can expect marshland and quagmire, and if the word m\u00e5sk\u00e1sj appears, you might be heading into a dead-end valley. <\/p>\n\n

As you’ve probably already understood, Sami place names describing nature and settlements are a jungle, but an exciting one. Consider this attempt to clarify or complicate the concepts as a taste of what you can discover yourself if you dive deep into the Sami place names on your own. Here, the book “Samiska ortnamn vid v\u00e4gar och f\u00e4rdleder i Lule lappmark” by Olavi Korhonen and Hans Anderson is a little goldmine. <\/p>\n\n

Meanwhile, keep your eyes open on your journey and compare what you see with the map names along your way on the Padjelanta Trail.<\/p>\n\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n

Text: Ir\u00e9ne Lundstr\u00f6m<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The compass is laid out on the map of the Padjelanta Trail with all its beautiful but tongue-twisting names, such as Sjnjuvtjudis, Njierek, and Gievgessuoloj. What do these Lule Sami names mean, and is it possible to interpret the nature solely through them? To fully understand the Sami place names, one might need to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[96,94,92,91,101],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-8434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-inspiration","category-laponia-en","category-mountain-hiking","category-nature","tag-slider-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8435,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8434\/revisions\/8435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationjokkmokk.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}