Bustadnamn i Østfold

English: Settlement names in Østfold

Abstract

The project Bustadnavn i Østfold (BØ) aims to publish settlement names in Østfold County, by municipalities. Vol. 20, Rakkestad Municipality (2021), completes the series. This reaches a milestone in Norwegian and Scandinavian name research. BØ was first planned as a revision of the first volume, Smaalenenes amt (i.e. Østfold County), of Oluf Rygh’s (ed.) Norske Gaardnavne (Norwegian settlement names) 1–19 (1897–1936). However, the project expanded to include a number of names denoting younger habitations. In 1950, name researcher Kåre Hoel at the University of Oslo started compiling information from oral and written sources in Østfold. Between 1955 and 1980, he produced a handwritten manuscript comprising 7,789 pages. This manuscript has now been edited and published by two of Hoel’s younger research colleagues, Margit Harsson (vols. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12) and Tom Schmidt (vols. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13–20).