There are two different writing standards in Norway:
Bokmål and
Nynorsk. Norwegian
municipalities are named or (plural) or (the singular form is the same in both Bokmål and Nynorsk). The Norwegian word is loaned from the French word , which ultimately derives from Latin word , ("common"). The
Kven equivalent is . Historically, the word or was used in Norway as the name for municipalities. That word derived from the old
hundred that was used all over northern Europe. Since the 1960s, that name has fallen out of use across Norway, although a small group of municipalities in the
Hardanger region of
Western Norway still use the name
herad such as
Voss herad,
Ulvik herad, and
Kvam herad.
Ullensvang Municipality used the name
herad until 2020. Norway also has some municipalities that are bilingual or trilingual due to the presence of many native
Sami people living there. In
Northern Sámi, there are two words for a municipality: and . Both are loan words from Scandinavian languages, the first of which is related to the Norwegian words
sokn and sogn (a parish). The second term is related to the Norwegian word (
prestegjeld).
Lule Sámi likewise has two words for municipalities: and . The
Southern Sámi word is . == Administration ==