Himmerland

Himmerland is a district in north-eastern Jutland, Denmark. It is delimited in the north and the west by the Limfjord, in the east by Kattegatt, and in the south by the Mariager Fjord. The largest city is Aalborg, and the most important smaller towns are Hobro, Aars, Løgstør, Støvring and Nibe. In north-eastern Himmerland is the Lille Vildmose, Denmarks largest high bog, which has a rich population of wild birds.

It is generally assumed that the name is derived from the tribe of the Cimbri, since, in the "Geography" of Ptolemy (2nd cent. AD), the "Kimbroi" are located in the northernmost part of the peninsula of Jutland, called "Kimbrikē chersonēsos". The Latin "c" and Greek "k" attest an earlier stage of Germanic in which the Germanic sound shift was not yet completed (*"k" > *"χ" > "h"), or it has been assumed the Latin form may be derived through Celtic which substituted "ch" for "h" (Germanic *"himbr-", Celtic *"chimbr-", Latin "cimbr-").

ee also

*Cimbri
*Gundestrup cauldron
*Johannes Vilhelm Jensen