Kristiansand
English
Proper noun
Kristiansand
- A city and municipality in Agder county, Norway.
Norwegian Bokmål
Alternative forms
Etymology
First part from Kristian, after Christian IV of Denmark, the King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 to 1648, who founded the city on the 5th of July 1641. Last part from sand (“sand”), referring to the sandy headland the city was built on, where the river Otra has its outlet.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkrɪstɪansan/
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -an
- Hyphenation: Kri‧sti‧an‧sand
- Homophones: Christianssand, Christiansand
Proper noun
Kristiansand
- Kristiansand (a city and municipality of Agder, Norway)
- Kristiansand (a historical county from 1671 to right before 1700 in Norway)
Derived terms
- kristiansander (“a person from Kristiansand”)
- kristiansandenser (“a person from Kristiansand diocese, or from the city of Kristiansand”)
References
- “Kristiansand” in Store norske leksikon
- “Kristiansand amt” in Store norske leksikon
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology
A Norwegianised spelling of Danish Christianssand, from Christian + sand (“sand”). Named after Christian IV of Denmark who initiated the construction of a “kvadratur” on the place in 1641.
Pronunciation
Proper noun
Kristiansand m
- A city and municipality of Vest-Agder, Norway. The sixth-largest city in Norway.
Usage notes
Due to the foreign origin of the name, using the name of a Danish king, various Norwegian alternatives have been proposed. The most prominent of these are Storesand (literally “Big Sand”), cf. the nearby Lillesand (“Little Sand”), and Otros (“the outlet of the river Otra”), variously spelled Otteros and Oteros.
Derived terms
- kristiansandar (“someone from Kristiansand”)
- Kristiansandsfjorden (“the Kristiansand Fjord”)
References
- Jørn Sandnes, Ola Stemshaug (1997) Norsk stadnamnleksikon, Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, →ISBN