English 'Norway' comes from Old Norse Norvegr, meaning 'the northern way' — named by Viking sailors for the coastal route that ran north along the fjord-cut western coast of Scandinavia.
A Nordic country in Northern Europe, occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula.
English 'Norway' derives from Old English 'Norþweg' or Old Norse 'Norvegr', meaning 'the northern way' or 'the way leading north'. The name describes the sailing route along the Norwegian coast — the 'north way' that Viking navigators followed from Denmark and southern Scandinavia up along the long western coast. 'Nor-' is from Proto-Germanic *nurþ- (north), from PIE *h₁ner- (left, below — north being on the left when facing
Norway is named after a road — specifically the shipping lane along its coast. For Viking navigators, the defining feature of Norway was not the land itself but the route: the 'north way' along the fjord-indented coastline that connected the Germanic world to the Arctic. The country is literally named from a sailor's perspective.