Salten is a traditional district in

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It includes the municipalities of

Gildeskål Gildeskål may refer to: Places *Gildeskål Municipality, a municipality in Nordland county, Norway * Gildeskål (village), a small village in Gildeskål Municipality in Nordland county, Norway *Gildeskål Church Gildeskål Church () is a parish ...

, Bodø,

Beiarn Beiarn is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. Beiarn is also a part of the Bodø Region, a statistical metropolitan region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village ...

, Saltdal, Fauske, Sørfold, Steigen, and Hamarøy. Salten covers an area of about and has a population (2016) of about 73,375 people. The district borders

Helgeland Helgeland is the most southerly Districts of Norway, district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet moun ...

in the south (see Saltfjellet),

Ofoten Ofoten is a districts of Norway, traditional district in Nordland county in Northern Norway. It consists of Evenes Municipality, Narvik Municipality, and Lødingen Municipality. It is named after the main fjord, Ofotfjorden, which is at the cent ...

in the north,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in the east, and Vestfjorden (and

Lofoten Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...

) in the west. The geology in Salten is known in Norway for having the country's largest areas with

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

. There are many

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

s, and mountains often reaching to the sea. The town of Bodø is the main population center of the district, while the town of Fauske is a secondary center.

Media gallery

Storvika-fra-skaret-2009-08-18.jpg, Storvika (bay) in Gildeskål Skotstindan med Landego.JPG, Skotstindan in Steigen Rupsielva.jpg, Rupsi river, Fauske Landegode midnattsol.jpg, Landegode island illuminated by the midnight sun in Bodø

Dialect

The

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

of Salten is well known for its large use of

apocope In phonology, apocope () is the omission (elision) or loss of a sound or sounds at the end of a word. While it most commonly refers to the loss of a final vowel, it can also describe the deletion of final consonants or even entire syllables. ...

. For instance, a local would say while in the formal

Norwegian language Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelli ...

one would say The words in this list () are pronounced with two

syllable A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...

s in formal Norwegian, but with just one in some Salten dialects.

Name

The district is named after the Saltfjorden (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

: ''Salpti''), and the fjord is probably named after the famous

Saltstraumen or is a small strait with one of the strongest Tide, tidal currents in the world. It is located in Bodø Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located about southeast of the Bodø (town), town of Bodø. The narrow channel connects the ...

. Even though the word

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

has the same meaning in the modern

as in the English language, these names most likely have nothing to do with salt, but are derived from an old (obsolete) word ' with the meaning "strong stream". Three other fjords in Norway with narrow entrances (and thus strong tidal streams) also have names including ''-salten'': ''Busalten'' in

Namsos Municipality (Norwegian language, Norwegian) or is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is t ...

, and ''Nordsalten'' and ''Sørsalten'' in

Nærøysund Municipality Nærøysund is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Namdalen. The municipality was established on 1 January 2020 after the mer ...

References

{{authority control Districts of Nordland Meløy Gildeskål Bodø Beiarn Saltdal Fauske Sørfold Steigen Hamarøy