Språkrådets tilskuddsordning for å ta vare på lokale navn – bakgrunn for tiltaket og status etter seks år

Abstract

In Norway, onomastic fieldwork and the study of place names have a tradition back to the 19th c. In 20th c. numerous field work campaigns were undertaken and extensive collections were created. The last large project ended almost 40 years ago. This fact and the Norwegian ratification of the UNESCO charter for the protection of intangible cultural heritage in 2007, prompted the Norwegian Cultural Ministry to launch a funding scheme for the collection of local place names. The paper discusses the context for this decision. A digital registration system was ready in 2016 and in the same year, the first projects were funded. In the paper, the registered data are analysed and the experiences with the system are discussed. The database currently contains 126 000 detailed registrations. This is a substantial number, and the project can be considered a success. On the other hand, the number could have been higher. A reason for this is the lack of a good and user-friendly search interface and a nationwide organization taking care of datasets from onomastic fieldwork.