Zodiac Signs in Norwegian: All 12 Names, Symbols, and the Norse Zodiac Difference

The zodiac signs in Norwegian come in two official spellings, which makes Norwegian unique among the languages in this series. Norway has two written standards — Bokmål, used by roughly 85 percent of the country and by every horoscope app you will open, and Nynorsk, co-official and dominant in the western fjord counties — and six of the twelve signs differ between them. The Norwegian word for a star sign is stjernetegn.

One thing this guide also clears up, because it trips up almost everyone searching this topic: the Norwegian zodiac signs below are the same twelve Greek/Latin constellations used in English, French or German horoscopes, just translated. They are not the “Norse zodiac” you may have seen described with runes and Viking animal symbols — that’s a separate, modern system, and we explain the difference further down.

Quick answer: In Bokmål, the 12 zodiac signs in Norwegian are Væren (Aries), Tyren (Taurus), Tvillingene (Gemini), Krepsen (Cancer), Løven (Leo), Jomfruen (Virgo), Vekten (Libra), Skorpionen (Scorpio), Skytten (Sagittarius), Steinbukken (Capricorn), Vannmannen (Aquarius) and Fiskene (Pisces).

All 12 Zodiac Signs in Norwegian, With Symbols

Here are the Norwegian zodiac sign names in astrological order, Bokmål and Nynorsk side by side, with the English equivalent, the standard zodiac symbol, an approximate pronunciation and the literal meaning of each.

Norwegian is spoken in strongly divergent dialects and carries two tonal accents, so pronunciation varies more by region than any respelling can show. These follow standard East Norwegian, the Oslo-area speech you hear on television.

Bokmål or Nynorsk: Which Norwegian Star Signs Do You Need?

For almost everything, Bokmål. It is the default for national newspapers, for VG and Dagbladet horoscope columns, and for any app or website carrying a daily forecast. Nynorsk matters if you are writing for western Norway, for municipalities that require it, or for NRK, which is obliged to publish a share of its output in Nynorsk.

The pattern behind the differences is worth learning because it repeats across the entire language, not just these twelve words. Nynorsk prefers feminine -a where Bokmål uses -en (Løva against Løven), and prefers -ane in definite plurals where Bokmål uses -ene (Fiskane against Fiskene). Learn that and you can predict the rest of the list yourself.

As in Danish and Swedish, the ending is the definite article — Norwegian attaches it to the back of the noun. Tyr is “bull”; Tyren is “the bull”. Most signs drop it when describing a person: “jeg er skorpion”, “jeg er løve”.

How to Say Each of the Zodiac Signs in Norwegian

Twelve entries, one per sign: the Norwegian word, both spellings where they differ, and what the name carries that the English does not.

Aries in Norwegian: Væren ♈

Norwegian has the shortest ram in Scandinavia. Danish stretches it to Vædderen and Swedish to Väduren; Norwegian trims it to Væren, from vær, “ram” — Veren in Nynorsk. And vær carries a second, far more common meaning: weather. It is the vær in værmelding, the weather forecast. The two senses have been tangled since Old Norse, where veðr covered both, and one practical consequence follows — Norwegians usually keep Aries in the definite form when talking about a person, because a bare vær reads as “weather”. For the sign itself see the full Aries profile.

Taurus in Norwegian: Tyren ♉

Tyr, from Old Norse þjórr: a bull, identical in both written standards. Norwegian sides with Danish here and against Swedish, which uses Oxen, a working ox. Same constellation, noticeably different animal. See the Taurus profile.

Gemini in Norwegian: Tvillingene ♊

From the old root for “two”, exactly as English “twin” is. This is one of the six signs that splits between standards: Bokmål Tvillingene, Nynorsk Tvillingane. The Gemini profile has the rest.

Cancer in Norwegian: Krepsen ♋

Kreps is a crayfish. Norwegian has krabbe for crab and does not use it for the sign. Norway’s own crayfish are a protected, tightly regulated catch, which gives the word a rarer feel than its Swedish cousin kräfta — attached there to an entire national August party. Read the Cancer profile.

Leo in Norwegian: Løven ♌

Løve reached Norwegian from Latin leo through Low German. In Nynorsk the noun is feminine and becomes Løva, so this sign changes shape depending on which Norway you are writing for. See the Leo profile.

Virgo in Norwegian: Jomfruen ♍

Jomfru is a worn-down “young lady”, and meant an unmarried gentlewoman in older Norwegian. Nynorsk makes it Jomfrua. Like its Danish and Swedish neighbours, Norwegian chose the maiden rather than the virgin. More in the Virgo profile.

Libra in Norwegian: Vekten ♎

Vekt means both weight and a set of scales. Nynorsk treats it as feminine: Vekta. Note the vowel — Norwegian Vekten against Danish Vægten, a one-letter difference on the page that is clearly audible in speech. The Libra profile covers the sign.

Scorpio in Norwegian: Skorpionen ♏

The only unambiguous loanword among the astrological signs in Norwegian. There are no scorpions in Norway, so there was no native word to translate into and the Latin came in whole — identical in all three Scandinavian languages and in both Norwegian standards. See the Scorpio profile.

Sagittarius in Norwegian: Skytten ♐

Skytte is a shooter or marksman, from skyte, “to shoot” — the bow is gone from the name entirely. Norwegian pronounces the sk here as a soft “sh”, the same way Swedish does and unlike Danish, which keeps it hard. All three languages spell this word identically and only two agree on how to say it. See the Sagittarius profile.

Capricorn in Norwegian: Steinbukken ♑

Stein (stone) plus bukk (buck): the ibex. The Norwegian spelling with ei is a reliable marker of the language — Danish writes sten, Norwegian writes stein, and the same split runs through hundreds of everyday words. No sea-goat and no fish tail anywhere in the Nordic version of this sign. Read the Capricorn profile.

Aquarius in Norwegian: Vannmannen ♒

“The water man”, from vann. Nynorsk uses vatn for water and produces Vassmannen — the widest gap between the two standards in the entire list. Norwegian escapes the Danish coincidence here: Danish vandmand doubles as the word for jellyfish, but Norwegian calls a jellyfish a manet, so Vannmannen means only the sign. The Aquarius profile has the sign.

Pisces in Norwegian: Fiskene ♓

Plural, as in Latin: the fishes. Bokmål Fiskene, Nynorsk Fiskane. Do not confuse either with fiskerne, “the fishermen”. See the Pisces profile.

Norwegian Star Sign Vocabulary and Phrases

One grammatical habit sets Norwegian apart from its neighbours. Where a Dane or a Swede puts the possessive first, Norwegians usually put it last:

• Hva er stjernetegnet ditt? — What’s your star sign? (Literally “what is the star-sign yours”.)

• Jeg er skorpion. — I’m a Scorpio.

• Stjernetegnet mitt er Vekten. — My star sign is Libra.

• Jeg er født i Løvens tegn. — I was born under the sign of Leo.

• Hvilket tegn er du? — Which sign are you?

• Typisk steinbukk! — Typical Capricorn!

Ditt stjernetegn is not wrong, but it sounds bookish. Stjernetegnet ditt is what people actually say.

Astrology and Stjernetegn in Norway

VG and Dagbladet both run daily horoskop columns, and the format is a fixture of Norwegian weekly magazines. The tone is the Scandinavian one: brief, wry and not asking to be taken literally.

If you are localising astrology copy for Norway, settle the Bokmål or Nynorsk question before you start rather than after. Six of the twelve Norwegian star signs change spelling between the standards, and mixing the two inside one piece of text reads as carelessness to a Norwegian reader.

Norwegian Zodiac vs. the “Norse Zodiac”: Two Different Systems

If you landed here searching for Viking symbols, runes, or a “Norse zodiac,” it’s worth pausing on the distinction, because the two get mixed up constantly online.

The stjernetegn covered above are the same 12-sign, Greek-and-Babylonian-derived zodiac used across Europe — Aries through Pisces, tied to the sun’s position against the same constellations used in French, German or English horoscopes. Norway adopted this system the same way its neighbours did, and it’s what runs in VG and Dagbladet every morning.

The “Norse zodiac” is a different, much newer thing. It’s a modern system — popularised mostly online from the 2000s onward — that assigns animals (raven, bear, wolf, and so on) or runes to date ranges, styled to evoke Viking mythology. It is not attested in Old Norse sources, and there’s no historical evidence Vikings organised birth dates into twelve fixed animal periods the way the Chinese zodiac or the Greek zodiac do. Norse mythology does have rich symbolic systems — the runic alphabet (Elder Futhark), the Norse calendar’s seasonal divisions, and astronomical references in the sagas — but none of these form a birth-date “sign” system in the way the modern “Norse zodiac” charts claim.

So: if you want the actual Norwegian word for your Western star sign, use the table above. If you’re interested in Viking symbolism and runes as a separate topic, that’s a real and fascinating subject, just not the same one as stjernetegn.

Frequently Asked Questions

Zodiac Signs in Norwegian and Its Neighbouring Languages

Norwegian sits between its two neighbours and shares words with both: see the zodiac signs in Danish, which it matches at Taurus, and the zodiac signs in Swedish, which it matches at Sagittarius. Finnish shares the region and none of the vocabulary.

All twenty languages together: zodiac signs in different languages.

• Zodiac Signs in Danish: All 12 Names, One of Which Means Jellyfish

• Zodiac Signs in Finnish: All 12 Names, and Why Ten Are Everyday Words