Settlement names ending in ‑sted

Many Danish settlement names have the ending ‑sted, e.g. Mønsted and Pjedsted. Despite the fact that sted is a well-known word in Danish, the meaning of the word is under debate as it appears in old settlement names. The basic meaning in these names is, however, 'site for settlement, settlement place.'

About a fourth of the names in ‑sted have personal names as first elements. This includes Haraldsted, which contains the male name Harald. Many of the personal names we find in the sted-names were no longer in use when the Viking Age began, but all together they are a little younger than the personal names we find in the lev-names. For that reason, the sted-names must be a little younger than the lev-names.