The municipality of Nordre Undal was established in 1845 when the old municipality of Undal was divided into Sør-Undal (population: 3,893) and Nordre Undal (population: 802). The name Undal was changed to Audnedal in the early 20th century. On 1 January 1911, Nord-Audnedal ceased to exist when it was divided into two separate municipalities: Konsmo (population: 782) and Vigmostad (population: 923).[4]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Audnedalen valley (Old Norse: Auðnudalr). The prefix nord means "northern" since it is the northern part of the valley. The first element of the name is the genitive case of the river name Auðna (now Audna). The river name is derived from the word auðn which means "destruction" or "wasteland" (because of the flooding that often happens along the river). The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".[5][6] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Nordre Undal (an older version of the valley name that was a shortened and corrupted version of the original Old Norse name). On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nord-Audnedal. This more modern name was introduced to bring back the historical spelling of the name.[7]
^Helland, Amund (1903). "Nordre Undal herred". X Lister og Mandals amt. Anden del. Norges land og folk (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 338. Retrieved 3 July 2022.