page_title: Jämtland
section_title: Etymology
hierarchical_section_title: Jämtland / Etymology
caption_attribution_description: Halfdan Egedius: Illustration for Olav den helliges saga. Snorre 1899-edition. «Torodd og hans Følgesvænd på Ski med Arnljot Gelline.» nb: «Torodd og følgesveinen hans på ski med Arnljot Gelline.» nn: «Torodd og følgjesveinen hans på ski med Arnljot Gelline.»
context_page_description: Jämtland is a historical province in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norway to the west. Jämtland covers an area of 34,009 square kilometres, 8.3% of Sweden's total area and is the second largest province in Sweden. It has a population of 115,331, the majority of whom live in Storsjöbygden, the area surrounding lake Storsjön. Östersund is Jämtland's only city and is the 24th most populous city in Sweden.
  Jämtland was originally an autonomous peasant republic, its own nation with its own law, currency and parliament. Jämtland was conquered by Norway in 1178 and stayed Norwegian for over 450 years until it was ceded to Sweden in 1645. The province has since been Swedish for roughly 370 years, though the population did not gain Swedish citizenship until 1699. The province's identity is manifested with the concept of a republic within the kingdom of Sweden, although this is only done semi-seriously.
  Historically, socially and politically Jämtland has been a special territory between Norway and Sweden.
context_section_description: Jämtland's name derives from its inhabitants, the Jamts. The name can be traced back to Europe's northernmost runestone, the Frösö Runestone from the 11th century, where it is found as eotalont (normalized Old Norse: Jamtaland). The root of Jamt (Old West Norse: jamti), and thus Jämtland, derives from the Proto-Germanic word stem emat- meaning persistent, efficient, enduring and hardworking. The Proto-Norse prefix eota (jamta) is a genitive plural case.
  It is not known how the Jamts got their name. One possible explanation is presented in the Icelandic work Heimskringla from the 13th century. In the Saga of Håkon Góði, Snorri Sturluson narrates about Kettil Jamti, a son of Anund Jarl from Sparbu in Trøndelag who fled from Norway when Harald Fairhair united the country with brute force in the 9th century. His descendants then came to bear his name. An alternative explanation comes from the excessive iron production that took place in the province before the Viking Age. A folk etymological theory is that the name ought to have something to do with the "even" (as in level or flat) parts around the lake Storsjön. This theory is based on the similarity between the Swedish words jämt (from emat-) and jämnt (from Germanic *ebna, "even").
  The name Jämtland with an Ä is a 20th-century Swedish alteration of the older spelling Jemtland. Localities settled by Jamtish emigrants such as Jemtland in Ringsaker, Norway and Jemtland in Maine, United States were founded before the alteration occurred. In the nearby Norwegian province of Trøndelag old settlements such as Jamtøya, Jamtgarden and Jamtåsen all use the prefix Jamt-, just like the regional name, however the Trøndersk name for Jämtland is Jamtlainn, whilst the Jamtish name is Jamtland. As the d is silent the form Jamtlann is also common. The most genuine Jamtish pronunciation of the name is however the now uncommon form Jamplann [ˈjampˌlanː], deriving from older names such as Jamptaland, found in ancient documents. The regional name Jamtland has only status as an official form in Nynorsk and Icelandic, but is popularly used among locals which is one of the reasons as to why the regional museum was given the dialectal name Jamtli (Swedish jämtsk backsluttning), "Jamtish hillside".
caption: Jämtland does not mean "the even country" but rather "Jamts' land". In this picture the Viking Arnljot Gelline from Jämtland is seen moving through the landscape.
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