Nissedal

Nissedal kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms
Telemark within
Norway

Nissedal within Telemark
Coordinates: 59°4′35″N 8°31′6″E / 59.07639°N 8.51833°E / 59.07639; 8.51833Coordinates: 59°4′35″N 8°31′6″E / 59.07639°N 8.51833°E / 59.07639; 8.51833
Country Norway
County Telemark
District Vest-Telemark
Administrative centre Treungen
Government
 • Mayor (2015) Halvor Homme (Ap)
Area
 • Total 905 km2 (349 sq mi)
 • Land 788 km2 (304 sq mi)
Area rank 123 in Norway
Population (2004)
 • Total 1,429
 • Rank 377 in Norway
 • Density 2/km2 (5/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) -3.2 %
Demonym(s) Nissedøl[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-0830
Official language form Nynorsk
Website www.nissedal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Nissedal is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Treungen. The municipality of Nissedal was established on January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

Etymology

A man in a traditional red hat by F. C. Lund.

The modern form of the name stems from Old Norse Nizidalr. The first element is the name of the lake Nizir, possibly from *Nið-sær, which is now called Nisser, and the last element is dalr "valley, dale".[2][3]

Geography

Nissedal is a municipality covering an area of 905,2 km2 in Telemark County. Nissedal municipality borders Kviteseid to the north, Fyresdal to the west, Drangedal and Gjerstad to the east, and borders Vegårshei and Åmli to the south. Nisser lake, which is 40 kilometres in length and 250 meters deep,[4] is the largest in the county and the seventh largest lake in Norway.[5]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on October 30, 1992, and was designed by Halvor Holtskog jr. The arms shows three red nisseluer, traditional red woolen hats often associated with the nisse, which were commonly worn until the late 19th century by farmers and common folk. It is a canting arms, as the name Nissedal has been "translated" into a visual pun with the three woolen hats, in spite of the name having nothing to do with the folkloric nisse.

Fauna

In 2014 two reindeer were photographed, apparently roaming in the municipality.[6] More commonly encountered wildlife includes the Mountain hare, European badger, European beaver, Roe deer, Red fox, European hedgehog, European pine marten and Norway lemming. More rare but occasionally encountered are the Gray wolf and Brown bear.

Notable natives

Notes

  1. ↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. ↑ Stemshaug (1973:117).
  3. ↑ Cleasby and Vigfusson (1874:95).
  4. ↑ http://www.nissedal.kommune.no/nb-NO/Velkomen_til_Nissedal/Ny_Turistinformasjonen/Fakta_paa_engelsk.aspx
  5. ↑ http://www.gonorway.no/norway/counties/telemark/nissedal/7635e8c99568fb0/index.html
  6. ↑ http://www.nrk.no/telemark/reinsdyr-pa-nye-trakter-1.11837877

References

  • Cleasby, Richard and Vigfusson, Gudbrand (1874). Icelandic-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Stemshaug, Ola (1973). Norsk stadnamngransking. Samlaget. ISBN 82-521-0160-7
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