Talk:Counties of Norway

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Project?[edit]

Is there any interest to start up a project, in order to provide a template, for the Norwegian counties? There are projects already for Sweden and Finland which could be used as a basis for this: Wikipedia:WikiProject Swedish counties and Wikipedia:WikiProject Finnish provinces. -- Mic 07:30 May 3, 2003 (UTC)

Category[edit]

There is also a category Category:Counties of Norway that really serves little purpose alone. The articles should really be merged. -- 10:54, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Counties or provinces?[edit]

Wouldn't it really be better to refer to the Norwegian fylker as provinces? County is a very specific term, connected to the British Isles and the US, and it might be confusing for readers who are not native speakers of English.

No. County is a very accurate term. -- Egil 18:15, 18 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The official term is "fylkeskommune", i.e. a broader type of a "kommune". One level below the "fylkeskommune" you will find "bykommune" (city) and "landkommune" (municipality not granted city status). This is similar to the independent cities found in Virginia but dissimilar to most other U.S. states, where the cities are located within counties. Therefore, using the term "county" in reference to a Norwegian "fylke" is still the best translation. And as a side note, the Norwegian "fylker" do not have anywhere near the political autonomy of a U.S. state or a Canadian province. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.113.56.30 (talk) 05:42, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Statistics Norway uses the term "county" (see for instance here (you may need to click on part 3)). As 76.113.56.30 points out, a state or province implies full-time legislation, often with its own code of laws, and responsibility for a wide range of public services, including all aspects of transport, universities, hospitals, setting its own tax levels, its own police force etc. County Municipalities are merely a small administration, often with a single full-time politician and a small portfolio. Arsenikk ^(talk) 08:54, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The number 13 in the list of counties[edit]

In the official Norwegian numbering of counties, the number 13 is not included. The numbering goes from 01 Østfold via 12 Hordaland and 14 Sogn og Fjordane to 20 Finnmark. The number 13 was previously used for Bergen, which is no longer a county but a municipality within Hordaland. See no:Norges fylker. Would it be useful to modify the numbering in the present article? --Eddi (Talk) 19:40, 19 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, following the offical numbering is a very good idea. See also ISO 3166-2:NO. -- Egil 20:26, 19 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I have installed a modified map with the official numbering. --Eddi (Talk) 22:13, 19 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The numbered list in the table doesn't match the numbering on the map (the table *doesn't* omit 13). Kraamlep (talk) 09:07, 2 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Removing irrelevant genealogy information, and reference to nonexistant city[edit]

I removed a paragraph with some genealogy information, and a reference to a city that doesn't exist. Feel free to revert, but please leave a note here explaining the relevance of the paragraph, and some referenced information about "The city of Gulla". --NorwegianBlue^talk 20:28, 3 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Merge proposal[edit]

The County municipality (Norway) is more or less a duplicate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SKvalen (talk • contribs) 11:07, 12 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose There is a very distinct difference between a county and a county municipality. A county (fylke) is a geographic area. A county municipality (fylkeskommune) is an elected, government body responsible for providing certain services. within that geographic area Does the nominator also want to merge County Governor into the county article as well? The county article is concerned with the definition of counties, their history and both political bodies, as well as historic political bodies that ruled prior to the current system. The county municipality and county governor articles go more into dept of the two political bodies, in line with the summary style guideline. Arsenikk ^(talk) 12:39, 12 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose. The county municipality is an administrative body, limited to one historic period. Punkmorten (talk) 14:34, 12 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sarpsborg or Moss ?[edit]

The article lists Sarpsborg as the prefecture of Østfold. I wonder if this is an incorrect use of the term, as the "Fylkesmann" -- i.e. the "governor" appointed by the national government -- is in fact seated in Moss. It is my understanding that the term "prefect" refers to this type of governorship and not an elected local government. It seems that either the list should be headlined as "county seat" or the entry changed to Moss. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.113.56.30 (talk) 05:33, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would have said the best solution is to list both, and have a footnote state why there are two. Arsenikk ^(talk) 08:55, 30 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I went ahead and made a change to this effect. Hope I got it right. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.113.56.30 (talk) 09:16, 3 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

no — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cookwald II (talk • contribs) 19:23, 21 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong premise of article[edit]

As stated clearly in the respective articles in English and German about counties in English-speaking world, a 'county' is an administrative division lead by a nobleman entitled a count, hence the name.

Thus the German translation correctly reads 'Grafschaft'. There is the corresponding term 'Grevskap' in Norwegian, which is however by no means a county.

This article has a flawed premise. "Amt" is to be translated as "province", since shire is already another Norwegian term ("herred") and hence cannot be used.

In France, Italy, Spain, Austria-Hungary, etc., similar divisions existed, all based upon the direct translations of the nobleman who ruled the territory, the count (from Latin Comitatus, variations in Romance languages such as Comté, Contado, or the Hungarian Komitat (Gespanschaft).

THE SAME IS THE CASE IN ICELAND AND DENMARK: These articles need to be fixed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.156.126.230 (talk) 15:18, 12 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]