Undal is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 368-square-kilometre (142 sq mi) municipality[1] existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1845. It encompassed parts of the present-day municipalities of Lyngdal and Lindesnes. The municipality encompassed most of the Audnedalen valley which follows the river Audna southwards to the sea.[2]

Undal herred
Former municipality
Vest-Agder within Norway
Undal within Vest-Agder
Coordinates: 58°17′07″N 07°21′21″E
Country	Norway
County	Vest-Agder
District	Sørlandet
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Disestablished	1 Jan 1845
• Succeeded by	Nordre Undal and Søndre Undal municipalities
Area  (upon dissolution)[1]
• Total	368 km2 (142 sq mi)
Population  (1845)
• Total	4,695
• Density	13/km2 (33/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1027
Data from Statistics Norway

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Auðnudalr. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Auðna (now Audna) and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The river name is derived from the Old Norse word auðn which means "destruction" (because of flooding).[3] (Around 1900, the name Undal was Norwegianized to Audnedal.)

History

The parish of Undal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The municipality was short-lived and it existed only until 1845, when it was divided into the new municipalities of Nordre Undal (population: 802) in the north and Søndre Undal (population: 3,893) in the south. Prior to the split Undal had a population of 4,695.[4]

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway

References