Editing Fjaler (section)

==General information==
[[File:Dale kyrkjestad.jpg|thumb|left|Dale Church]]
''Ytre Holmedal'' was established as a [[List of municipalities of Norway|municipality]] on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). The original municipality was identical to the Ytre Holmedal [[Church of Norway|parish]] ''([[prestegjeld]])'' with the sub-parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) of [[Holmedal]], [[Dale, Sogn og Fjordane|Dale]], and Fjaler. In 1912, the name ''Ytre Holmedal'' was changed to ''Fjaler''.<ref name="em">{{Cite web |last=Natvik |first=Oddvar |date=9 February 2005 |title=Some historical data on the 26 Kommunes |url=http://www.sf-f.kommune.no/sff/emigration3.nsf/enduser?readform |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724180634/http://www.sf-f.kommune.no/sff/emigration3.nsf/enduser?readform |archive-date=24 July 2011}}</ref>

On 1 January 1990, some changes were made to the boundaries between the municipalities of Fjaler, [[Gaular]], and [[Askvoll]]. The areas surrounding the villages of Fure, Folkestad, and Våge (population: 482) in Askvoll were transferred to Fjaler municipality. The areas surrounding the villages of Vårdal, [[Holmedal]], Rivedal, and a part of Hestad (population: 731) in Fjaler were transferred to Askvoll municipality. The parts of Hestad that did not go to Askvoll (population: 90) were transferred to Gaular municipality.<ref name="Dag">{{Cite web |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 |language=no}}</ref>

On 1 January 2020, the municipality became part of the newly created [[Vestland]] county after [[Sogn og Fjordane]] and [[Hordaland]] counties were merged.

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) was named ''Ytre Holmedal'', after the old ''[[Holmedal]]'' farm ({{langx|non|Hǫlmudalr}}) since the first [[Holmedal Church]] was built there. The meaning of the first element of Holmedal is uncertain, but it may have been an old name for a local river, {{lang|non|Holma}}. It is unknown what the river name meant. The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|dalr}} which means "[[valley]]" or "dale". The prefix {{wikt-lang|no|ytre}} (which means "outer") was added to distinguish the area from its neighbor, [[Gaular|Indre Holmedal]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lN1LAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Bergenhus amt |date=1919 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=12 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=263–264 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

On 6 December 1912, a [[royal decree|royal resolution]] changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Fjaler''.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1912 |title=Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1912. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2015102381009_001 |journal=[[Norsk Lovtidend]] |language=no |location=Oslo, Norway |publisher=Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri |page=586}}</ref> This new name brought back a very old name for the area ({{langx|non|Fjalir}}). The name was the ancient name for the [[fjord]] (now called the [[Dalsfjorden (Sunnfjord)|Dalsfjorden]]). The name comes from the plural form of the word {{wikt-lang|non|fjǫl}} which means "board" or "table". Older forms of the name were {{lang|non|Fjalir}} or {{lang|non|Fjalar}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=F — A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic — Словари — Северная Слава |url=http://norroen.info/dct/zoega/f.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lN1LAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Bergenhus amt |date=1919 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=12 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=284–285 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 8 February 1991. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Gules]], two arched bridges [[argent]]"'' ({{langx|no|På raud grunn to sølv kvelvingsbruer}}). This means the arms have a red [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is two arched stone bridges. The charge 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 two bridges symbolize the old, historic bridges in the municipality that are part of the old [[post road]] that goes through Fjaler on its way to [[Trondheim]]. The arms were designed by Inge Rotevatn from Nordfjord. 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=Fjaler |access-date=2023-05-13 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fjaler, Sogn og Fjordane (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-14-29.html |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1991-04-15 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1991-02-08-99 |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Fjaler. It is part of the [[Sunnfjord prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Bjørgvin]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Fjaler'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="4"|Fjaler||[[Dale Church (Fjaler)|Dale Church]]||[[Dale, Sogn og Fjordane|Dale]]||1864
|-
|[[Folkestad Chapel]]||Våge||1913
|-
|[[Guddal Church]]||[[Guddal]]||1870
|-
|[[Hellevik Chapel]]||[[Hellevika]]||1978
|}