Lovund is an island and village in the municipality of

Lurøy Lurøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lurøy, located on the island of Lurøya. Other villages in Lurøy include Aldra ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The island is located west of the Solvær islands and southeast of the

Træna Træna is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the island/village of Husøya. Other population centres include Selvær and Sanna. Fishing i ...

islands. Lovund is notable for the large

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids (auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in crev ...

breeding colony located on the rocky north slope of the island. The village of Lovund (sometimes called ''Strand'') is located in the northeastern part of the island. The village has a population (2018) of 499 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of .

Lovund Church Lovund Church ( no, Lovund kirke) is a chapel of the Church of Norway in Lurøy Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located in the island village of Lovund. It is an annex chapel in the Lurøy parish which is part of the Nord-Helgelan ...

, located in the village, serves the people of the island.

Name

The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

form of the name might have been ''Laufund''. The first element is then ''lauf'' which means "

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

" or "

broad-leaved tree A broad-leaved, broad-leaf, or broadleaf tree is any tree within the diverse botanical group of angiosperms that has flat leaves and produces seeds inside of fruits. It is one of two general types of trees, the other being a conifer, a tree with ne ...

s", referring to the fact that the western part of the island is covered with a forest. The last element is the suffix ''-und'' meaning "land". (see Borgund).

Media gallery

File:Lovund.JPG, Lovund seen from Dønna File:Lovunden II.jpg, Lovund village File:Lovunden.jpg, View of the island File:Lundeura Lovund.jpg, Lundeura - location of the puffin colony File:Scenery near Nesna in North Norway.jpg, View near Nesna, Norway, showing the settlement of Lillevik in the foreground. The island of Lovund in the distant horizon.

References

Lurøy Islands of Nordland Villages in Nordland {{Nordland-island-stub