As a general rule, modern Norwegian does not use exonyms for names with
endonyms
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...
in Latin script. Historically, several Danish/German exonyms have been in use, due to the Danish roots of the Bokmål variety of
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
, but these exonyms should be considered archaic, and are no longer used officially.
Albania
Austria
Belgium
Cuba
Denmark
Places in Denmark are in Norway spelled like in Danish. Also, for places with ''Aa'', which during the latter half of the 20th century were spelled ''Å'' in Denmark, and then changed back to ''aa''. Thus,
Aabenraa
Aabenraa (; , ; Sønderjysk: ''Affenråe'') is a town in Southern Denmark, at the head of the Aabenraa Fjord, an arm of the Little Belt, north of the Denmark–Germany border and north of German town of Flensburg. It was the seat of Sønder ...
and some more places are spelled with ''aa'' also in Norway. The same sound is spelled ''Å'' for places in Norway.
Estonia
Finland
Until recently, most people tended to use the official
Swedish names in Norwegian. The Swedish names are not exonyms, since both
Finnish
Finnish may refer to:
* Something or someone from, or related to Finland
* Culture of Finland
* Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland
* Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people
* Finnish cuisine
See also ...
and
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
are official languages in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
, with many towns, cities and regions having two, often very different, official names. In recent years, however, the use of Finnish place names have gained some popularity in Norwegian.
Germany
Greece
Italy
Netherlands
Russia
Sweden
Newspapers in Norway often, but absolutely not always, write all ä as æ (sometimes e) and all ö as ø, probably because ä and ö were historically lacking on Norwegian typewriters. For example: Göteborg (
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
) is in Norway written Göteborg or Gøteborg.
Some places have genuine Norwegian names because they were originally part of Norway:
United Kingdom
See also
*
List of European exonyms {{Short description, none
Below is a list with links to further Wikipedia-pages containing lists of exonyms of various European languages for villages, towns, and cities in Europe.
* Albanian exonyms
* Basque exonyms
* Bulgarian exonyms
*Catalan ex ...
References
*Vigleik Leira, ''Geografiske navn i flere språk'' (2006).
External links
Official spellings for names of foreign places
{{exonyms per language
Norwegian language
Lists of exonyms