tasta

Uncertain. Is seen attested through late medieval and early modern periods as a Tostum (1343), a œfrom Tostom (1379), Thaste (1563), Taste (1567), Thasta (1610), Taste, and Thastadt (1616). By 1915, the normal spelling was Tastad, although the suffixed stad (“place”) does not seem to be etymologically correct. The oldest spellings, as also the pronunciation, suggest an Old Norse *Tastar. Etymologist Inge Særheim ponders a relation to tasa (“to ravel”) and tase m (“rag, tear”), referring to its southern lake Stokkavatnet, which would have been a fjord at the time, tearing into the landscape.