Torsnes is a former municipality in

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...

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 ...

. It is the site of Torsnes Church (''Torsnes kirke''). Torsnes kyrkje 01

History

Torsnes was created by a split from Borge on 1 January 1910. At that time Torsnes had a population of 1,538. On 1 January 1964, Gansrød and Ulfeng, with 30 inhabitants, were incorporated into

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

while the rest of Torsnes, with 1,274 inhabitants, was reunited with Borge. On 1 January 1994, Borge was incorporated into Fredrikstad.

Etymology

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 was ''Þórsnes'', meaning "

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

's headland". The neighbouring island has the name ''

Ullerøy Ullerøy is a peninsula and urban area in the municipality of Sarpsborg in Østfold, Norway. As of 2009, the population was 363. Before 1992 Ullerøy was a part of Skjeberg municipality. Ullerøy Church Ullerøy Church (''Ullerøy kirke'') was fi ...

'', from the name of the god ''

Ullr In Norse mythology, Ullr (Old Norse: ) is a god associated with archery. Although literary attestations of Ullr are sparse, evidence including relatively ancient place-name evidence from Scandinavia suggests that he was a major god in earlier G ...

''. An old farm in the parish, close to the church site, has the name ''Tose'' or '' Thorsø''. This is derived from Old Norse ''Þórshof'', a compound of ''Þórr'' (Thor) and '' hof'', meaning "Thor's temple".

References

Fredrikstad Former municipalities of Norway {{Østfold-geo-stub