Dovre

Dovre is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dovre. Other villages in Dovre include Dombås and Hjerkinn. The municipality is bordered on the north by Oppdal municipality (in Trøndelag county), on the east by Folldal, on the south by Sel and Vågå, and on the northwest by Lesja. The highest peak in the municipality is Snøhetta at a height of . The municipality is the 69th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Dovre is the 252nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,498. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 8.9% over the previous 10-year period. The municipality of Dovre was established in 1861 when it was separated from the municipality of Lesja. Initially, the new municipality had 2,537 residents. On 1 January 1970, the three western farms at Bergsengseter (population: 11) were transferred from Dovre to the neighboring Folldal Municipality. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Dovre farm (Dofrar) since the first Dovre Church was built there. The name 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 - (cf. PIE , "deep"), a root that is also attested in German Topel ("forested valley") and Old Slavic dublŭ ("hole"). There are several place names in Denmark, Norway and Sweden that are identified as related to Dovre: Denmark Døvregaarde in the narrow valley Døvredal, in Bodilsker parish on Bornholm. Dover a place with steep slopes in Lintrup parish in Haderslev amt. Dovergaard located among deeply cut banks of a small stream, in Skipdsted parish near Aalborg. Dover vestergaard, an old farm name, and the bay Doverkil, with hilly terrain, in Ydby parish, near Thisted. Dover sogn a parish in Hjelmslev hundred in Århus amt.