Agder - Name

Name

The name Agder is older than the Norwegian language. Its meaning is not known. Just as Norwegian derives from Old Norse, Agder derives from the Old Norse word Agðir. In the early Viking Age, before Harald Fairhair, Agðir was a petty kingdom inhabited by a people named after it, the Egðir.

Nothing in Old Norse, however, gives any hint as to the meaning of the word; i.e., it was not produced (from known segments) in Old Norse, which means that the name is older still. The Egðir are believed to be the same etymologically as the Augandzi people mentioned in the Getica of Jordanes, who wrote of Scandza (Scandinavia) in the 6th century. If Jordanes' Scandza is a palatalized form of *Scandia, then Augandzi is likely to be a palatalized form of *Augandii, residents of *Augandia.

A name of that period would have to be closer to Proto-Germanic; in fact, a word of that period does present itself and fits the geographical lore of the times: *agwjo, "island", which Jordanes and all his predecessors writing of Scandinavia believed it to be. A simple metathesis produces a possibly late form, *augjo-; however, this derivation is speculative. There is no other evidence on Auganza and its connection to Egder also is hypothetical.