Editing Audnedal (section)

==General information==
[[File:20100501Audnedalen.jpg|thumb|left|View of the Audnedalen valley]]
[[File:170153 Konsmo (10017829114).jpg|thumb|left|View of the Konsmo area]]
[[File:Grindheim kirke.jpg|thumb|left|View of the [[Grindheim Church (Vest-Agder)|Grindheim Church]]]]
The old municipality of [[Undal]] was established on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). That municipality only existed until 1845 when it was split into [[Nord-Audnedal]] and [[Sør-Audnedal]]. Those municipalities were later divided also. Sør-Audnedal was divided into [[Spangereid]] in 1899 and Nord-Audnedal was divided into [[Konsmo (municipality)|Konsmo]] and [[Vigmostad (municipality)|Vigmostad]] in 1911. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. This is when the present-day municipality of Audnedal was created.<ref name="Dag">{{Cite book |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |year=1999 |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=no |isbn=9788253746845}}</ref>

Audnedal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1964 when the municipality of [[Konsmo (municipality)|Konsmo]] (population: 712), the municipality of [[Grindheim]] (population: 701), and the Ågedal and Midtbø areas (population: 96) of [[Bjelland (municipality)|Bjelland]] municipality were merged. This new Audnedal municipality mostly corresponded to the historical borders of the old municipality of [[Nord-Audnedal]].<ref name="Dag" />

On 1 January 2020, the neighboring municipalities of Audnedal and [[Lyngdal]] merged into a new, larger municipality called ''Lyngdal''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nye Lyngdal kommune Informasjonsbrosjyre |url=https://www.lyngdal.kommune.no/globalassets/bilder-og-dokumenter/kommunereformen/nye-lyngdal-kommune/informasjonsbrosjyrer/infobrosjyre-nye-lyngdal-1-2017.pdf |access-date=2017-11-05 |publisher=Lyngdal kommune |language=no |archive-date=7 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107055508/https://www.lyngdal.kommune.no/globalassets/bilder-og-dokumenter/kommunereformen/nye-lyngdal-kommune/informasjonsbrosjyrer/infobrosjyre-nye-lyngdal-1-2017.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the [[Audnedalen]] valley ({{langx|non|Auðnudalr}}). The first element is the [[genitive case]] of the river name ''Auðna'' (now [[Audna]]). The river name is derived from the word {{wikt-lang|non|auðn}} which means "destruction" or "wasteland" (because of the flooding that often happens along the river). The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|dalr}} which means "[[valley]]" or "dale".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mt1LAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Lister og Mandals amt |date=1912 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=9 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=155 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref><ref name="snl">{{Cite web |last=Store norske leksikon |author-link=Store norske leksikon |title=Audnedal |url=https://snl.no/Audnedal |access-date=2016-11-19 |language=no}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 30 August 1991 and in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], a circular sawblade [[argent]]"'' ({{langx|no|I grønt et sølv sirkelsagblad}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[circular saw]]blade. The sawblade has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[argent]] which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The green color in the field  and the sawblade was chosen to represent the importance of the [[Timber industry|timber]] and [[Forestry industry|forestry industries]] in the municipality. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Audnedal |access-date=2023-01-20 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Audnedal, Vest-Agder (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-10-27.html |access-date=2023-01-20 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1991-08-30 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LTII/forskrift/1991-08-30-593 |access-date=2023-01-20 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] had two parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Audnedal. It is part of the [[Mandal prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Agder og Telemark]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Audnedal'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="1"|Grindheim||[[Grindheim Church (Vest-Agder)|Grindheim Church]]||[[Byremo]]||1783
|-
|rowspan="1"|Konsmo||[[Konsmo Church]]||[[Konsmo]]||1802
|}