Carl Linnaeus chose the name "Rangifer" for the reindeer genus, which Albertus Magnus used in his "De animalibus", fol. Liber 22, Cap. 268: "Dicitur Rangyfer quasi ramifer". This word may go back to the Saami word "raingo". Linnaeus chose the word "tarandus" as the specific epithet, making reference to Ulisse Aldrovandi's "Quadrupedum omnium bisulcorum historia" fol. 859–863, Cap. 30: De Tarando (1621). However, Aldrovandi and Konrad Gesner thought that "rangifer" and "tarandus" were two separate animals. In any case, the "tarandos" name goes back to Aristotle and Theophrastus.