herad

See also: herað and hérað

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• -hørå (dialectal, Hovde, Tuddal)

Etymology

From Old Norse herað (“district; country”). See also Norwegian Bokmål herred, Icelandic hérað and Swedish härad.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²hɛːra/, /²hɛra/

Noun

herad n (definite singular heradet, indefinite plural herad, definite plural herada)

1. municipality

   Voss herad ― Voss municipality

2. (in placenames) village
3. (historical, middle ages, in Eastern Norway) administrative divisions with their own thing and divided into four fjórðungar
4. (historical, from 1863) a kind of rural administrative division

Usage notes

After a municipal reform in 1992, herad was replaced by the French-derived kommune in official names. However, some municipalities chose to keep herad in their official names, for instance Voss. Herad is also a general synonym of kommune and may be used for all municipalities.

Derived terms

• heradshus
• heradsrett
• heradsstyre (“municipal government”)
• herding (“person from a herad”)

Related terms

• Innherad
• Krødsherad
• Kvinnherad
• Sauherad

References

• “herad” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.