Talk:Øyer

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80.111.157.82 commented: "Legend suggests that Øyer municipality was so named because it was left deserted (øye) by the plague - but this can surely not be true since the name is recorded in the old sagas before the plague! The river Lågen expands to a lake in the middle of the municipality (now named Jemnefjorden after the greatest farm there) - and the old name of this lake can have been Øyer. (Like the name of the lake Øyeren (ie 'the Øyer') some miles east of Oslo.)"

Have we any Norwegians local to the area who can advise on the correct statement to carry here?

Williamborg 02:39, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Looking to the Norwegian Wiki, we find: "Navneetymologi: Bygdenavnet Øyer er første gangen belagt i 1323, men det er trolig mye eldre. I norrønt er det kun belagt i oblike former (Øyja), og dette viser helst til en (ikke belagt) nominativsform *Øyi. Navnet må være avledet av det norrøne ordet øy f 'øy' - og da i betydningen 'flatt landområde langsved vann eller elv'. (Bortsett fra noen små og ubetydelige holmer i Lågen, og i noen av fjellvannene, finnes det ingen øyer i Øyer.)"

Or, if my rough and rapid translation is correct: "Etymology of the name: the muncipality name is first recorded in 1323, but it is certainly much older. In old Norse it was recorded in the former form Øyja, and that appears to derive from on unrecorded nominative form Øyi. The name may derive from the old Norse word øy- and that signifies "a level region alongside a lake or river." (Aside from some small and insignificant hill in the Lågen river, one finds no islands (øyer) in Øyer)."

Going to revise article accordingly. Williamborg 03:01, 17 May 2006 (UTC)