Hardanger
Norwegian fjord region whose name derives from a great famine, attested in the Heimskringla.
Hardanger is a fjord region in western Norway, attested in the Heimskringla. The region received its name, according to one tradition, from a period of extreme famine: the famine was so severe that the fjord where the kings resided was nicknamed Hardanger, meaning "Hardacre" (Heimskringla, 11. Harald Gormson's Message To Norway). The same region appears as a destination for merchant voyaging -- an Icelandic merchant ship loaded with skins and peltry came to Hardanger (Heimskringla, 7. Of Harald Grafeld).
Both citations come from the Heimskringla's account of the reign of Harald Grafeld and its aftermath. The folk-etymology of the name -- from "hard" conditions, the fjord renamed for its privation -- is characteristic of the saga tradition's interest in place-name origins (Heimskringla, 11. Harald Gormson's Message). The merchant ship episode is more prosaic, placing Hardanger within the Icelandic-Norwegian trade network (Heimskringla, 7. Of Harald Grafeld). Together they present a region defined by extremity: harsh enough to earn a name from famine, yet connected enough to receive Icelandic trading vessels.
Appears in: Places, Entities in Heimskringla, Norse Tradition