Fell - Fennoscandia

Fennoscandia

In Norway, fjell, in common usage, is generally interpreted as simply a summit of greater altitude than a hill, which leads to a great deal of local variation in what is defined as a 'fjell'. Professor of geography at the University of Bergen, Anders Lundeberg, has summed up the problem by stating that "There simply is no fixed and unambiguous definition of 'fjell'." For all practical purposes, however, 'fjell' can be translated as 'mountain' and indeed the Norwegian language has no other commonly used word for mountain.

In Sweden, "fjäll" refers to any mountain or upland high enough that forest will not naturally survive at the top, in effect a mountain tundra. 'Fjäll' is primarily used to describe mountains in the Nordic countries, but also more generally to describe mountains shaped by massive ice sheets, primarily in Arctic and subarctic regions.

In Finnish, the mountains characteristic of the region of Lapland are called tunturi (plural: tunturit), but this term is often translated with the Swedish term fjäll in English (tunturi is used to refer to treeless plains at high altitudes in far north regions, as well). They are round inselbergs rising from the otherwise flat surroundings. The mountains in Finnish Lapland reach heights of up to 400 and 800 metres, where the upper reaches are above the tree line. Those that do not reach the tree line, on the other hand, are mostly referred to as vaara. The mountains in Finnish Lapland form vestiges of the Karelides mountains, formed two billion years ago. The term tunturi is a loan from Sami, compare Kildin Sami tūndâr, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract". From this expression, the word tundra is borrowed, as well.

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