Dovrefjell

Coordinates: 62°21′N 9°9′E / 62.350°N 9.150°E / 62.350; 9.150
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Dovrefjell
Snøhetta, the highest mountain on Dovrefjell, in the winter.
Highest point
PeakSnøhetta, Dovre, Innlandet
Elevation2,286 m (7,500 ft)[1]
Prominence1,672 m (5,486 ft)
Isolation82.2 km (51.1 mi)
Coordinates62°19′11″N 9°16′05″E / 62.319829°N 9.26803°E / 62.319829; 9.26803
Dimensions
Area4,500 km2 (1,700 sq mi)
Geography
Map of the location
Map of the location
Location of the mountain
Map of the location
Map of the location
Dovrefjell (Møre og Romsdal)
Map of the location
Map of the location
Dovrefjell (Trøndelag)
Map of the location
Map of the location
Dovrefjell (Norway)
LocationCentral Norway
Range coordinates62°21′N 9°9′E / 62.350°N 9.150°E / 62.350; 9.150

Dovrefjell is a mountain range in Central Norway that forms a natural barrier between Eastern Norway and Trøndelag. The mountain range is located in Innlandet, Møre og Romsdal, and Trøndelag counties in Norway. As a result of its central location, its valleys and passes have been heavily trafficked during and probably preceding historical times. Several mountain inns were established in the Middle Ages to house pilgrims traveling through Dovrefjell to Trondheim, and there are even ruins of an old leper colony in the northern area of it.

Fokstumyra and the Dovrefjell mountains

The main south-north highway (

Dovre Region
.

Musk ox at Dovrefjell
Pilgrimsleden - the Pilgrim route leading to Nidaros Cathedral.

As it is a natural habitat for many rare plants and animals, much of the Dovrefjell range has become a

East Greenland
in 1932.

The Dovrefjell area has now been almost entirely protected as two national parks:

  • Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park
    , founded 2002, which encompasses the previous and much smaller Dovrefjell National Park.
  • Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park with Rondane National Park
    .

The highest mountain in the region is the 2,286-metre (7,500 ft) tall Snøhetta. The range provides cross-country skiing and hiking opportunities. The river Driva, running north through the municipality of Oppdal, has its source in the Dovrefjell range.

Name

The first element refers to the geographic area, Dovre. The last element is fjell which means "fell" or "mountain".

The name Dovre (

Old Norse: Dofrar) belongs to a group of Scandinavian toponyms that the Swedish linguist Elof Hellquist has derived from a Proto-Norse *đuƀra-, and linguists have further derived them from the old Proto-Indo-European root *dhub-/dhup- (cf. PIE *dhubrós, "deep"[2]), a root that is also attested in German Topel ("forested valley") and Old Slavic dublŭ ("hole").[3] There are several place names in Denmark, Norway and Sweden that are identified as related to Dovre:[4]

Denmark
Norway
Sweden
  • Dovra sjöar ("lakes of Dovra"), which are three lakes (Northern/Upper, Middle, and Southern) in a fissure valley in Närke.[7]
  • Ödesdovra, a farm located at the southernmost extension of the valley.[7]
  • Dovern, a long and narrow inlet of the lake Glan in Östergötland, and there is a strait named Doversund and a farm named Doverstorp.[8]

The name has also been given to giants in Scandinavian legends. The name has been given to the giant Dofri, at Dovrefjell, who was helped by Harald Fairhair and in return assisted him all his life.[9] In Närke, the Dovra lakes were attributed to the giantess Dovra who wept for her husband.[10]

From the oldest times has Dovrefjell been the border region between the northern and southern parts of Norway, and the road over the mountain was well known. The expression "til Dovre faller" ('until the Dovre mountains fall') is widely used in Norwegian. It was used in the oath sworn during the Norwegian Constituent Assembly in 1814, when Norway formed an independent nation after being in union with Denmark. At this time it was assumed that Snøhetta in Dovrefjell was the highest mountain in Norway, since the higher peaks in Jotunheimen were fairly unresearched.

Geology

Dovrefjell is a residual massif, which is a mass of rock that has stayed in place as the surrounding relief has been eroded. The tops of Jotunheimen and Dovrefjell and other parts of southern Norway are the few remnants (see summit accordance) of a formerly flat surface that existed in Norway before uplift. This surface is now largely eroded and warped. That erosion formed a series of steps and from the highest of these steps Jotunheimen rises.[11]

References

  1. ^ "Snøhetta". PeakVisor. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  2. .
  3. ^ a b c d Brevner, Erik Alfred Johannes (1942). Sydöstra Närkes Sjönamn. Uppsala, Sweden: Kungliga Gustav Adolfsakademien för folklivsforskning 9. p. 83.
  4. ^ Brevner, Erik Alfred Johannes (1942). Sydöstra Närkes Sjönamn. Uppsala, Sweden: Kungliga Gustav Adolfsakademien för folklivsforskning 9. p. 81ff.
  5. ^ a b Brevner, Erik Alfred Johannes (1942). Sydöstra Närkes Sjönamn. Uppsala, Sweden: Kungliga Gustav Adolfsakademien för folklivsforskning 9. p. 85.
  6. ^ a b c Brevner, Erik Alfred Johannes (1942). Sydöstra Närkes Sjönamn. Uppsala, Sweden: Kungliga Gustav Adolfsakademien för folklivsforskning 9. p. 86.
  7. ^ a b Brevner, Erik Alfred Johannes (1942). Sydöstra Närkes Sjönamn. Uppsala, Sweden: Kungliga Gustav Adolfsakademien för folklivsforskning 9. p. 81.
  8. ^ Brevner, Erik Alfred Johannes (1942). Sydöstra Närkes Sjönamn. Uppsala, Sweden: Kungliga Gustav Adolfsakademien för folklivsforskning 9. p. 81f.
  9. .
  10. ^ "Dovrasjödalen" (in Swedish). Örebro län. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
  11. .

External links