The Norwegian word for farm is bondegård – which consists of two words: bonde + gård. In informal speech, people often only use the single word gård or gard.
Gård: In this context, the word gård or gard means fenced-in land used for the cultivation of grass or food plants, or the keeping of domestic animals.
The word gård or gard can also have other meanings, but then usually with an added prefix or suffix, for example in gårdshund = farm dog, kirkegård = churchyard, bakgård = backyard, bygård = apartment block/building, hønsegård = chicken enclosure, skjærgård = archipelago etc.
Another Norwegian word used for farm is bruk. Often used when talking about a smallholding or small farm – a småbruk.
The word gård is also often added after a farm’s name, for example as in Østre Øre Gård.
Bergliot Evensen Dahlmann (1918-2003), who grew up in the small town of Moss in south-eastern Norway, used the word gård when referring to a regular urban family house.
EGP.00103
