The 459-square-kilometre (177 sq mi) municipality is the 216th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Etnedal is the 315th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,239. The municipality's population density is 2.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (7.3/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 11.4% over the previous 10-year period.[5][6]
General information
Bruflat churchLunde bridge - the inspiration for the municipal arms
Etnedal was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1894 by merging the eastern valley area of Nordre Etnedal (population: 362) from the neighboring Nordre Aurdal municipality and the Søndre Etnedal area (population: 1,331) from the neighboring municipality of Søndre Aurdal. On 1 January 1979, there was a border adjustment in an unpopulated area where part of Etnedal was transferred to Nord-Aurdal and another part of Nord-Aurdal that was transferred to Etnedal.[7][4]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Etnedalen valley (Old Norse: Etnardalr) since it was a central geographic feature of the municipality. The first element is the genitive case of local Etna river Etn. The meaning of the river name is uncertain but it is possibly derived from etja which means to "push forward" or from eta which means to "eat". The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".[8] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Etnedalen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Etnedal, removing the definite form ending -en.[9]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted by royal decree on 14 July 1989. The official blazon is "Azure, an arched bridge Or" (Norwegian: På blå grunn ei gull kvelvingsbru). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is an arched bridge. The bridge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The arms were designed to symbolize the old Lunde bridge (Lundebru) which is one of the best preserved stone bridges in Norway. The bridge is now a national monument. It is also Northern Europe's largest dry stone-arch bridge. The bridge was built in 1829 on the Old King's Road connecting the cities of Oslo and Bergen. A portion of the king's road was refurbished and turned into a footpath in 1992 and is now a natural and cultural walking path. The arms were designed by Ivar Aars. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[10][11][12][13]
The river Etna flows through the municipality, then into Nordre Land municipality and then down into Randsfjorden. The mountain Spåtind lies in the northern part of the municipality.
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Etnedal is made up of 15 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.