Solveig
Solveig is a female given name of Old Norse origin. It is most common in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. Also common in Germany and France. The Old Norse meaning is "Strong House". It can also mean either daughter of the sun or the sun's path.
Etymology
The name consists of two parts, where both parts have different theorized origins.
- Sol-
- Old Norse salr "house, hall, home"
- Old Norse sól "sun"
- Old Norse sölr "sun-coloured, yellow"
- -veig
- Old Norse veig "strength"
- Old Norse víg "battle"
- Old Norse vígja "to butt"
Versions
Generally speaking, the most common version is Solveig. However, alternative versions are used in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, Latvia and on the Faroe Islands and to some extent in France.
- Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish
- Solveig
- Sólveig
- Solvej
- Solvei
- Solveij
- Solveg
- Icelandic
- Solveig
- Sólveig
- Latvian and Lithuanian
- Solveiga
- German and French
- Solveig
In fiction
Solveig is a central character in the play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen. She sings the famous "Solveig's Song" in Edvard Grieg's musical suite of the same name. Ibsen uses sun imagery in association to the character (scene 10, act 5), indicating that Ibsen may have favored the idea that the name is etymologically associated with the sun. There is also a female central character in the Argentine novelist Leopoldo Marechal's Adán Buenosayres named Solveig Amundsen. Furthermore, Solveig is the main character and narrator of Matthew J. Kirby's Icefall.
Notable people called Solveig
- Solveig Kringlebotn
- Solveig Gulbrandsen
- Solveig Sollie
- Solveig Krey
- Solveig Dommartin
- Solveig Gunbjørg Jacobsen
- Sólveig Pétursdóttir
- Solveig Rönn-Christiansson
- Solveig Olsen, an American Optician
- Martin Solveig, a French DJ
- Solveig Heilo, a Norwegian musician
- Solveig Sundborg, a Danish film actress