Salten is a traditional district in

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, ...

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 includes the municipalities of Meløy, Gildeskål, Bodø, Beiarn,

Saltdal Saltdal ( sme, Sálát) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Rognan. Other villages in Saltdal include Røkland and Løn ...

, Fauske,

Sørfold Sørfold is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Straumen. Other villages in the municipality include Leirfjordgården ...

, Steigen, and

Hamarøy Hamarøy ( smj, Hábmer) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is t ...

. Salten covers an area of about and has a population (2016) of about 73,375 people. The district borders Helgeland in the south (see Saltfjellet), Ofoten in the north, Sweden in the east, and Vestfjorden (and

Lofoten Lofoten () is an archipelago and a 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. There are two towns, Svolv� ...

) 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 composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorpho ...

. There are many

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, Icela ...

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 The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...

of Salten is well known for its large use of

apocope In phonology, apocope () is the loss ( elision) of a word-final vowel. In a broader sense, it can refer to the loss of any final sound (including consonants) from a word. Etymology ''Apocope'' comes from the Greek () from () "cutting off", from ...

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

Norwegian language Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language 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 intelligible local and regi ...

one would say The words in this list () are pronounced with two syllables in formal Norwegian, but with just one in some Salten dialects.

Name

The district is named after the Saltfjorden (

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 ...

: ''Salpti''), and the fjord is probably named after the famous Saltstraumen. Even though the word

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quanti ...

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 Fosnes, and ''Nordsalten'' and ''Sørsalten'' in Nærøy.

References

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