Hamarøy

Hamarøy (Lule Sami: Hábmer) 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 Oppeid. Other villages include Innhavet, Karlsøy, Presteid, Skutvika, Tømmerneset, Tranøy, and Ulvsvåg.

General information

The municipality of Hamarøy was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1964, part of Hamarøy located south of the Sagfjorden (population: 77) was transferred to neighboring Steigen. On the same date, the Tysnes and Molvik farms (population: 33) was transferred from Hamarøy to Tysfjord.

Name

The municipality is named after the former island (now peninsula) Hamarøya (Old Norse: Hamarøy), since the first church (Hamarøy Church) was built there. The first element is the genitive case of Hǫm, the former uncompounded name of the island. The last element is øy which means "island". The former name of the island is probably identical with the word hǫm which means "thigh/leg (of an animal)" because the island (or a part of it) was shaped in the form of an animal's leg. Historically, the municipality name was spelled Hammerø.