Jærstrendene – Namn og stader

This monograph presents linguistic analysis of more than 3000 coastal toponyms from Jæren (southwestern Norway), from

the sea and the seashores. The etymology of the names is discussed as well as the context and the historical background of

the names. There are also chapters on the naming process and the use of names, on toponyms as linguistic and historical

sources and on special linguistic and historical topics appearing in this corpus of names. The locations of the toponyms are

marked on maps. The place-names presented have been coined from oral sources in the local dialect. A large part of the

corpus was collected by the author in the 1970s, presented in his unpublished master’s thesis Stadnamn frå sjøen på Jæren

(Coastal place-names from Jæren) from 1978 (University of Bergen).

The use of toponyms makes it possible to localize activities and various phenomena in everyday conversation. The

fishermen give names to fishing grounds in order to be able to talk about their work. The fact that toponyms contain linguistic

material giving specific information about the locations, makes them valuable as sources. They provide information

to researchers within linguistics, history and archaeology, as well as to ordinary folk. Place-names mention and localize

former traditions and working processes. The semantic content of coastal microtoponyms from Jæren contains information

about e.g. fishing and hunting, sailing, dangerous waters, shipwrecks, the use of seaweed, the use of sand from the beaches,

defence systems, administration, rights, events, traditions and attitudes – and about the local language.

Most toponyms contain a topographical appellative as the generic, describing the type of location represented. Ca. 200

words identifying different types of locations are found in this corpus of names, in addition to more than 100 examples of

metaphorical naming. Most toponyms are compound, containing a generic and a specifier. The specifiers refer to e.g. geographical

position, shape, colour, size, soil, vegetation, animals, persons, working processes, traditions and special events.

Publisher

Arkeologisk museum i Stavanger

Series

AmS-Varia;57