Salten is a district

Districts of Norway

The country Norway is historically divided into a number of districts. Many districts have deep historical roots, and only partially coincide with today's administrative units of counties and municipalities. The districts are defined by geographical features, often valleys, mountain ranges, fjords,...

 in Nordland

Nordland

is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is...

 in North Norway, consisting of the municipalities Meløy

Meløy

Meløy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ørnes, while Glomfjord is only slightly smaller. Meløy was separated from the municipality of Rødøy on 1 January 1884.The municipality...

, Gildeskål

Gildeskål

Gildeskål is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Inndyr. Gildeskål was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Beiarn was separated from Gildeskål in 1853...

, Bodø

Bodø

is a city and a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region.The city of Bodø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Bodin was merged with Bodø on 1 January 1968. Skjerstad was merged with Bodø on 1 January 2005...

, Beiarn

Beiarn

Beiarn is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region and the Bodø Region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Moldjord...

, Saltdal

Saltdal

-Transportation:European route E6 passes through the entire length of Saltdal, with the Nordlandsbanen railway running alongside it. A road running east through the Junkerdalen valley leads to Sweden. The nearest main airport is in Bodø, a nearly two hour drive from Rognan.- Economy :Saltdal has a...

, Fauske

Fauske

is a town and municipality located in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Fauske with approximately 6,000 inhabitants....

, Sørfold

Sørfold

Sørfold is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Straumen. The old municipality of Folden was divided into Sørfold and Nordfold-Kjerringøy on 1 January 1887.-General...

, Steigen

Steigen

Steigen is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Leinesfjord....

 and Hamarøy

Hamarøy

Hamarøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Salten traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Oppeid...

. The district borders Helgeland

Helgeland

Helgeland is the most southerly district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. The district covers an area of about , with nearly 79,000 inhabitants...

 in the south (see Saltfjellet

Saltfjellet

Saltfjellet is a mountain area in Nordland, Norway that separates the two regions of Helgeland and Salten. It is also a cultural border between the Southern and Central parts of Sápmi.-Geography and environment:...

), Ofoten

Ofoten

Ofoten is a district in North Norway, consisting of the municipalities Tysfjord, Ballangen, Evenes, Tjeldsund, Narvik and Lødingen. It is named after the main fjord Ofotfjord, which is at the center of this landscape...

 in the north, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 in the east and Vestfjorden (and Lofoten

Lofoten

Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...

) in the west. The geology in Salten is known in Norway for having the countrys largest areas with marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

. There are many fjords, and mountains often reaching to the sea. Bodø is the natural hub of the district, while Fauske is a secondary center.

Dialect

The dialect of Salten is well known for its large use of apocope

Apocope

In phonology, apocope is the loss of one or more sounds from the end of a word, and especially the loss of an unstressed vowel.-Historical sound change:...

. For instance: "æ tænkte å kjøp ei flaske fløte å en pose me pæra vess æ rækk butikkan", for normal Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

 "jeg tenkte å kjøpe ei flaske fløte og en pose med pærer hvis jeg rekker butikkene" (the words tenkte, kjøpe, flaske, fløte, pose, pærer and rekker are pronounced with two syllable

Syllable

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter. A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus with optional initial and final margins .Syllables are often considered the phonological "building...

s in normal Norwegian, but with just one in some Salten dialects).

The name

The district is named after Saltfjorden (NorseSalpti), and the fjord is probably named after the famous Saltstraumen

Saltstraumen

Saltstraumen is a sound with a strong tidal current located in Nordland 30 km east of the city of Bodø, Norway. The narrow channel connects the outer Saltfjord with its extension, the large Skjerstadfjord. It is the strongest tidal current in the world...

. Even though the word salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

 has the same meaning in modern Norwegian as in English, these names most likely have nothing to do with salt, but are derived from an old (obsolete) word *salpt with the meaning 'strong stream'.

Three other fjords in Norway with narrow entrances (and thus strong tidal stream

Tidal stream

A tidal stream can refer to two different phenomena:*in marine science it refers to the currents associated with the tides, generally near a coastline or harbor....

s) also have names including -salten: Busalten in Fosnes

Fosnes

Fosnes is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dun on the island of Jøa. Other villages include Salsnes and Nufsfjord.-General information:...

, and Nordsalten and Sørsalten in Nærøy

Nærøy

Nærøy is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. Nærøy is part of the Namdalen region. Norway's smallest town, Kolvereid, is the administration centre of the municipality...

.