Danish straits

Not to be confused withDenmark StraitorDanish Strait.

"Belts" and "Sounds" in Denmark and southwestern Baltic Sea

TheDanish straitsare thestraitsconnecting theBaltic Seato theNorth Seathrough theKattegatandSkagerrak.Historically, the Danish straits were internal waterways ofDenmark;however, following territorial losses,ØresundandFehmarn Beltare now shared withSwedenandGermany,while theGreat Beltand theLittle Belthave remained Danishterritorial waters.TheCopenhagen Convention of 1857made all the Danish straits open to commercial shipping.The straits have generally been regarded as aninternational waterway.

Toponymy and geography

Five straits are named 'belt' (Danish:bælt), the only ones in the world.Several other straits are named 'sound' (Danish, Swedish and German:sund). Where an island is situated between a "belt" and a "sound", typically the broader strait is called "belt" and the narrower one is the "sound":

• Als:
  • separated from the continent byAlssund
  • separated fromFynby the southern part of theLittle Belt,an area referred to in German (but not Danish) asAlsenbelt
• Fehmarn
  • separated from the continent byFehmarnsund,alsoFemersund
  • separated fromLollandbyFehmarnbelt(German) /Femerbelt(Platt) /Femernbælt(former spelling: Femer Bælt)

The Øresund,
seen fromHelsingborg

• Langeland:
  • separated fromTåsingeIsland bySiø Sund(Tåsingeitself is separated fromFynbySvendborg Sund)
  • separated fromLollandbyLangelandsbælt,the southern part ofGreat Belt
• Lolland:
  • separated fromFalsterIsland byGuldborgsund(Falsteritself is separated fromZealandbyStorstrømmenStrait)
  • separated fromLangelandbyLangelandsbælt
  • separated fromFehmarnbyFemernbælt,which is the common continuation of Great Belt–Langelandsbælt and Little Belt
• Zealand(Danish: Sjælland)
  • separated fromScandinavianpeninsula of the continent byØresund(Danish) /Öresund(Swedish)
  • separated fromFynIsland by theGreat Belt

Etymology of "sound" / "sund"

Sound/Sund: Aldersund separating Aldra island (left) from mainland Norway.

TheGermanicword "sound" has the same root as the verbto sunderin the meaning of "to separate". TheOld Norseform of that verb issundr.In Norway hundreds of narrow straits separating islands and combiningfjordsor outer parts of fjords are named "Sund".

Another explanation derives "sound" from an ancient verb "sund" in the meaning of to swim. That way asoundis aswimmable strait.In theSwedish languageany strait is called "sund".

The Germanic word "sound" is not related to theRomance languagesoriginated word "sound", which has developed from theLatinsonus.

See also

• Kiel Canal
• Göta Canal
• Eider Canal
• List of islands of Denmark
• March across the Belts

References

• Denmark 1:500,000 – official map for download
• Norwegian dictionary:sund
• Norwegian dictionary:sundre