Norske Gaardnavne

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.

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:

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.

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