Marnardal is a municipality

Municipalities of Norway

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...

 in Vest-Agder

Vest-Agder

In the 16th century, Dutch merchant vessels began to visit ports in southern Norway to purchase salmon and other goods. Soon thereafter the export of timber began, as oak from southern Norway was exceptionally well suited for shipbuilding...

 county

Counties of Norway

Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 430 municipalities...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Marnardal was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 through the merger of the former municipalities of Bjelland

Bjelland

Bjelland is a village and a former municipality in Vest-Agder county in Norway. It is located in the present-day municipality of Marnardal.-History:...

, Laudal

Laudal

Laudal is a village and a former municipality in Vest-Agder county in Norway. It is located in the central part of the present-day municipality of Marnardal. The village of Laudal has 191 residents .-Name:...

, and Øyslebø

Øyslebø

Øyslebø is a village and a former municipality in Vest-Agder county in Norway. It is located in the southern part of the present-day municipality of Marnardal about north of the town of Mandal...

.

It is an inland municipality, bordering in the north on Evje og Hornnes

Evje og Hornnes

Evje og Hornnes is a municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional region of Setesdal. Evje og Hornnes was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1960 after the merger of the two older municipalities of Evje and Hornnes....

 municipality in Aust-Agder

Aust-Agder

is a county in Norway, bordering Telemark, Rogaland, and Vest-Agder. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which is 2.2% of the total population in Norway. Its area is . The administrative center of the county is in Arendal....

 county, Audnedal

Audnedal

Audnedal is a municipality in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway. The new municipality of Audnedal was created on 1 January 1964 after the merger of Grindheim and Konsmo....

 municipality in the west, Lindesnes

Lindesnes

Lindesnes is a municipality in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway. Lindesnes was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 after the merger of the older municipalities of Spangereid, Sør-Audnedal, and Vigmostad....

, Mandal, and Søgne

Søgne

Søgne is a municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. Søgne was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 . Greipstad was separated from Søgne on 1 July 1913....

 in the south, and Songdalen

Songdalen

Songdalen is a municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. Songdalen was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 through the merger of the former municipalities of Finsland, Greipstad and a small part of Øvrebø. The administrative center is the village of Nodeland. The central market area...

 and Vennesla

Vennesla

Vennesla is a municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. Vennesla was separated from Øvrebø in 1861. Øvrebø and Hægeland were merged with Vennesla again on 1 January 1964...

 in the east.

Name

The name is a revival (from 1965) of the Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 form Marnardalr. The first element is the genitive case

Genitive case

In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...

 of the river name Mörn (now Mandalselva), the last element is dalr meaning 'dale, valley'. The meaning of the river name is unknown (maybe derived from marr which means 'sea

Sea

A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...

').

See also > Mandal

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is from modern times. They were granted on 19 June 1987. The arms show three pine

Pine

Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...

 cone

Conifer cone

A cone is an organ on plants in the division Pinophyta that contains the reproductive structures. The familiar woody cone is the female cone, which produces seeds. The male cones, which produce pollen, are usually herbaceous and much less conspicuous even at full maturity...

s, one for each of the three former municipalities of Bjelland, Laudal, and Øyslebø, which were merged into Marnardal.

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
  Statistics Norway
  Statistics Norway is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876.Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All releases are published both in Norwegian and English...