Øvrebø og Hægeland

Øvrebø og Hægeland herred
Former Municipality

Hægeland Church
Coordinates: 58°17′26″N 07°46′39″E / 58.29056°N 7.77750°ECoordinates: 58°17′26″N 07°46′39″E / 58.29056°N 7.77750°E
Country Norway
County Vest-Agder
District Sørlandet
Municipality ID NO-1016
Adm. Center Øvrebø
Created from Øvrebø in 1865
Split into Øvrebø and Hægeland in 1896

Øvrebø og Hægeland is a former municipality in Vest-Agder county in Norway. It is located in the northern part of the present-day municipality of Vennesla, just to the west of the Otra river.

Name

The municipality is a combination of the names of two parishes: Øvrebø and Hægeland. Øvrebø is named after the old Øvrebø farm (Old Norse: Øfribœr), since the first church was built there. The first part of the name means "upper" and second part of the name is identical with the word bœr which means "farm" and it is cognate with the Dutch language word "boer" which means "farmer". The name therefore means "the upper farm".[1]

Hægeland is named after the old Hægeland farm (Old Norse: Helgaland). The first element of the name means "holy" (Old Norse: heilagr and Norwegian: hellig) and the last element (Old Norse: land) is identical with the word land which means "land". This area was important to ancient Norse pagan worship.[2][3]

History

The municipality of Øvrebø og Hægeland was established in 1865 when the old municipality of Øvrebø was divided into Vennesla (population: 1,103) and Øvrebø og Hægeland (population: 1,829). The municipality existed until 1 July 1896, when it was split to create two municipalities: Øvrebø (population: 888) and Hægeland (population: 843). These two municipalities later merged into Vennesla.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1912). Norske gaardnavne: Lister og Mandals amt (in Norwegian) (9 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 36.
  2. ↑ "Hægeland" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 2009-10-29.
  3. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1912). Norske gaardnavne: Lister og Mandals amt (in Norwegian) (9 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 34.
  4. ↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.

External links