At 11:44:18 AM on Saturday, January 3, 2009, tgpedersen
wrote:
> The last element of the name of the Swedish landscape
> Medelpad is explained by the Swedish Wikipedia as meaning
> "waterway"
> http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medelpad
> but in the English one as meaning something like "land
> between two rivers"
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medelpad
I suspect that that should be understood as '(land) between
(two) rivers', with <medel> giving 'between' and <pad>
giving 'river, waterway'.
> Are the two senses identical somehow?
Looks like it to me.
German Wikipedia gives a slightly different interpretation
with a reference:
Der heute verlandete Selångers-Fjord war das entscheidende
Landschaftsmerkmal und man vermutet, dass der Name
"Medelpad" das Strandgebiet der ehemaligen Halbinsel
Kungsnäs meinte und "Strandgebiet in der Mitte"
bedeutete.[2]
[2] Leif Grundberg: "Hamn i Kungens namn!" In: Helgonet i
Nidaros. o.O. (1997) S. 208221, 212.
Brian