  melÃ¸y is a municipality in nordland county, norway. it is part of the salten traditional region. the administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ãrnes. other villages include eidbukta, glomfjord, halsa, reipÃ¥, and Ãgskardet. thumb|left|view of the glomfjorden  the municipality is situated just to the north of the arctic circle on norway's west coast. it encompasses the island of melÃ¸ya and some 700 other islands of various sizes around the melÃ¸yfjorden, glomfjorden, and holandsfjorden in the south, along with a stretch of mainland coast. ==general information== the municipality of melÃ¸y was established on 1 january 1884 when the northern district of the municipality of rÃ¸dÃ¸y was separated to become the new municipality of melÃ¸y. the initial population of melÃ¸y was 2,696. the municipal borders have not changed since then. ===name=== the municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of melÃ¸ya (old norse: mjÇ«lva), since the first church (melÃ¸y church) was built there. the old name of the island is probably derived from mjÇ«l which means "flour" or "meal" (referring to fine sand on the beaches of the island). the last element Ã¸y which means "island" was added to the name around 1500. historically, the name was spelled melÃ¸.{{cite book|title=norske gaardnavne: nordlands amt|edition=16|authorlink=oluf rygh|last=rygh|first=oluf|publisher=w. c. fabritius & sÃ¸nners bogtrikkeri|year=1905|location=kristiania, norge|page=173|url
MelA,y Municipalities_of_Nordland Populated_places_of_Arctic_Norway