Norske Gaardnavne

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Norske Gaardnavne (English: Norwegian Farm Names) is a 19-volume set of books based on a manuscript prepared from 1897 to 1924 by Oluf Rygh, a noted professor of archaeology, philology, and history at the University of Oslo. The book contains a standardized notation, information on pronunciation, historical forms, and the etymology for recorded gaardnavne (oeconyms, or farm, estate, and manor names) in Norway. It was developed by detailed compilation of the various written and oral records of land ownership. It is the standard that establishes place names in Norway. Documenting over 45,000 farm names and related information in 1886, it became the inspiration for similar studies in Sweden and Denmark. [1]

Contents

Work of the commission

The Norwegian Stortinget, in an act of 6 June 1863, commissioned a general revision of public register that defines Norwegian public and private lands to allow consistent land ownership records and to update the basis for taxation in Norway (a cadastre). The work was intended to correct inconsistencies and errors in place names. In 1878 the professors Sophus Bugge and Oluf Rygh, and the dean Johan Fritzner were named as members of a commission to revise the names of recorded property.

Several issues complicated this effort:

Sources for place names

Because spoken names evolve, the most useful etymological sources for place names are typically the oldest written sources. Hence the commission reviewed a number of older sources including old land records and the various letters and documents that comprise the Diplomatarium Norvegicum . However, many of the place names predate written records by over 1,000 years, complicating the process. Further, for large parts of the country there were no formal land records until the official record of 1723.

One of the commission's main techniques for establishing names was through recording the oral pronunciation. To accomplish this, the commission studied pronunciations used among common people in everyday conversations. Differences were observed regionally as well as between urban and remote areas. However they found consistent relationships between the current verbal forms and the original names as found in both the current parish records and the older records.

Analysis of farm names

Etymological analysis identified the grammatical form of names, including gender, number, grammatical case, and definite or indefinite article. Where records of earlier names exist, the phonetic changes through time are analyzed. The analysis identified derivations from a variety of sources, including:

Publication

After the initial manuscript was completed in 1892, the material was submitted to the National Archival Services of Norway. Interest in the work was so great that in 1896 the parliament appropriated funding to publish it. In 1897, the first volume in the series Norske Gaardnavne went to press.

Norske Gaardnavne was released in multiple volumes, with one or more volumes for each county and a separate volume with the preface and introduction, so people could buy individual volumes for areas in which they were interested. When Oluf Rygh died, the introductory volume and the first two county volumes had been published (for Smaalenenes, now Østfold, and Akershus). Volumes 3 and 4 were essentially finished. The manuscript for subsequent volumes were edited by Albert Kjær (volumes 4 [Part 2], 6, 7, 9, 12, and 19), Hjalmar Falk (volume 5), Amund B. Larsen (volume 8), Magnus Olsen (volumes 10 and 11), and Karl Ditlev Rygh (volumes 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17). In 1924 Just Knud Qvigstad and Magnus Olsen released an eighteenth, county-specific volume covering Finnmark.

Multiple editions of the work have subsequently been printed. With the support of the Arts Council Norway and nine counties, Norske Gaardnavne has been converted to an online digital database, which is available to the public for research. [2]

List of volumes in Norske Gaardnavne

VolumeTitleAuthor(s)Publication
date
Translated title
(using modern counties)
Link to book online
(in Norwegian)
Forord og innledningO. Rygh1898 Foreword and introduction Read online
ISmaalenenes AmtO. Rygh1897 Østfold County Read online
IIAkershus AmtO. Rygh1898 Akershus County Read online
IIIHedemarkens AmtO. Rygh1900Eastern Innlandet County
(old Hedmark)
Read online
IV-1Kristians AmtO. Rygh1900Western Innlandet County (vol. 1)
(old Oppland)
Read online
IV-2Kristians AmtO. Rygh with A. Kjær1902Western Innlandet County (vol. 2)
(old Oppland)
Read online
VBuskeruds AmtO. Rygh with Hj. Falk1909 Buskerud County Read online
VIJarlsberg og Larviks AmtO. Rygh with A. Kjær1907 Vestfold County Read online
VIIBratsberg AmtO. Rygh with A. Kjær1914 Telemark County Read online
VIIINedenes AmtO. Rygh with Amund B. Larsen1905Eastern Agder County
(old Aust-Agder)
Read online
IXLister og Mandals AmtO. Rygh with A. Kjær1912Western Agder County
(old Vest-Agder)
Read online
XStavanger AmtO. Rygh with Magnus Olsen1915 Rogaland County Read online
XISøndre Bergenhus AmtO. Rygh with Magnus Olsen1910Southern Vestland County
(old Hordaland)
Read online
XIINordre Bergenhus AmtO. Rygh with A. Kjær1919Northern Vestland County
(old Sogn og Fjordane)
Read online
XIIIRomsdals AmtO. Rygh with K. Rygh1908 Møre og Romsdal County Read online
XIVSøndre Trondhjems AmtO. Rygh, with K. Rygh1901Southern Trøndelag County
(old Sør-Trøndelag)
Read online
XVNordre Trondhjems AmtO. Rygh with K. Rygh1903Northern Trøndelag County
(old Nord-Trøndelag)
Read online
XVINordlands AmtO. Rygh with K. Rygh1905 Nordland County Read online
XVIITroms AmtO. Rygh with K. Rygh1911 Troms County Read online
XVIIIFinmarkens AmtJ. Qvigstad & Magnus Olsen1924 Finnmark County Read online
XIXFællesregister1936Errata Read online

See also

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