Norwegian exonyms explained

As a general rule, modern Norwegian does not use exonyms for names with endonyms in Latin script. Historically, several Danish/German exonyms have been in use, due to the Danish roots of the Bokmål variety of Norwegian, but these exonyms should be considered archaic, and are no longer used officially.

Belgium

Belgia
English nameNorwegian nameEndonymNotes
NameLanguage
BrusselsBrusselBrusselDutchNorwegian uses the German name, though less prominent, German is an official language of Belgium.
BruxellesFrench

Denmark

Places in Denmark are in Norway spelled like in Danish. Also, for places with Aa, which during the latter half of the 20th century were spelled Å in Denmark, and then changed back to aa. Thus, Aabenraa and some more places are spelled with aa also in Norway. The same sound is spelled Å for places in Norway.

Finland

Until recently, most people tended to use the official Swedish names in Norwegian. The Swedish names are not exonyms, since both Finnish and Swedish are official languages in Finland, with many towns, cities and regions having two, often very different, official names. In recent years, however, the use of Finnish place names have gained some popularity in Norwegian.

Germany

Tyskland
English nameNorwegian nameEndonymNotes
NameLanguage
RhineRhinenRheinGerman
StralsundStrælaStralsundGerman

Greece

Hellas
English nameNorwegian nameEndonymNotes
NameLanguage
AthensAt(h)enAthínaGreek
CorfuKorfuKérkyraGreek
CorinthKorint(h)KorinthosGreek
CreteKretaKritiGreek
PireusPireusPeiraiasGreek
RhodesRhodosRodhosGreek

Italy

Italia
English nameNorwegian nameEndonymNotes
NameLanguage
SyracuseSyrakusSiracusaItalian
SardiniaSardiniaSardegnaItalian

Sweden

Newspapers in Norway often, but absolutely not always, write all ä as æ (sometimes e) and all ö as ø, probably because ä and ö were historically lacking on Norwegian typewriters. For example: Göteborg (Gothenburg) is in Norway written Göteborg or Gøteborg.
Some places have genuine Norwegian names because they were originally part of Norway:

Sverige
English nameNorwegian nameEndonymNotes
NameLanguage
BohuslänBåhuslenBohuslänSwedish
HärjedalenHerjedalen, HerjådalenHärjedalenSwedish
JämtlandJemtlandJämtlandSwedish

United Kingdom

Storbritannia (og Nord-Irland)
English nameNorwegian nameEndonymNotes
NameLanguage
ScotlandSkottlandAlbaScottish Gaelic
ThamesThemsenThamesEnglish

See also

References

External links