Astafjorden is a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...

(more accurately, a

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean chan ...

) in

Troms og Finnmark Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English), is a county in northern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 as the result of a regional reform. ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

. It flows through the municipalities of

Salangen Salangen is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sjøvegan, where most of the people in the municipality live. Other villages include Elvenes, Laberg, and Seljesk ...

Gratangen Gratangen ( sme, Rivttága suohkan) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Årstein. The municipalit ...

Ibestad Ibestad ( sme, Ivvárstádik) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Central Hålogaland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hamnvik. Some of the other larger ...

, and Tjeldsund. The long fjord flows from the

fjord in the east to the Vågsfjorden in the west. The wide fjord separates the islands of

Andørja Andørja is a former municipality in Troms county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1926 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the northeastern half of the present-day Ibestad Municipality. It encompassed the entire isla ...

and Rolla from the mainland. There are several small fjords that branch off this fjord including:

Lavangen Lavangen ( se, Loabák) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tennevoll. Other villages in Lavangen include Fossbakken and Spansdalen (in the inland areas) and ...

, Grovfjorden, and

Name

The fjord (and the former municipality of

Astafjord Astafjord is a former municipality in the old Troms county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1926 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the eastern part of the present-day municipality of Tjeldsund in Troms og Finnmark county. ...

) were named after the old ''Ånstad'' farm (

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 ...

: ''Arnastaðafjǫrðr''). The first element of the old name comes from the male name ''Arna'' or "Arne", the second element ''staða'' means "home" or "

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

", and the last element ''fjǫrðr'' is identical with the word for "

". Thus, the fjord by Arne's farm. Another possible explanation for the origin of the name of the Astafjord in Troms might be that it was named after Queen Asta, mother of King "Hellige" Olav in the 11th century who allegedly brought Christianity to Norway.

References

Fjords of Troms og Finnmark Tjeldsund Ibestad Gratangen Salangen {{Norway-fjord-stub

Name

See also

References