Torsänget, Vångan och Ale i Norrala socken

– om några namn på samlingsplatser

Abstract

Norrala Parish, Hälsingland Province, is home to the field areas Torsänget and Vångan, situated close to each other and nowadays partly built-up, and the hamlet Ale in their vicinity. These localities take up a central position in this district. The author concludes that the first element of Torsänget, of which the last element is the definite form of änge ‘meadow-landʼ, contains the godʼs name Tor ‘Thorʼ. The plural Vångan has been formed from vång, a common word in southern Sweden in the sense of ‘arable landʼ etc., and which has West Scandinavian counterparts such as the Norwegian vang ‘grassy flatʼ. In ancient times, some Norwegian vang names denoted meeting-places for legal proceedings, trade and cult, and, in the authorʼs opinion, this interpretation is also relevant to Vångan and a few other North Swedish vång names. A word *al corresponding to Gothic alhs ‘temple (sanctuary)ʼ with both West Germanic and Baltic parallels, among the former also ‘farm, houseʼ, has not been documented in Old Scandinavian but is supposedly included in several place-names. According to the author, this also applies to Ale, with an original reference to a meeting-place possibly equipped with a building.