Editing Sømna Municipality (section)

==General information==
[[File:Om skolen og om oss (5).jpg|thumb|left|View of the Sømna coast]]
[[File:Sømna kirke ca 1900.jpg|thumb|left|[[Sømna Church]]]]
The new ''Vik Municipality'' was established on 1 January 1901 when it was separated from the large [[Brønnøy Municipality]]. The initial population of Vik Municipality was 2,731. In 1941, the municipality was renamed ''Sømna Municipality''. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, a major municipal merger took place. The following areas were merged to form a new, larger [[Brønnøy Municipality]]:<ref name="Dag" />
*the town of [[Brønnøysund]] (population: 2,064)
*all of Sømna Municipality (population: 2,347)
*all of [[Brønnøy Municipality]] (population: 2,635)
*all of [[Velfjord Municipality]] (population: 1,380)
*the part of [[Bindal Municipality]] located in the [[Lande, Norway|Lande]]-[[Tosbotn]] area around the inner [[Bindalsfjorden]] (population: 296)

This merger was short-lived because on 1 January 1977, all of the old Sømna Municipality (except the Hongsetbygda area) was removed from Brønnøy Municipality to become a separate Sømna Municipality once again. There were 2,107 residents in the newly recreated Sømna 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|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=no |isbn=9788253746845}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''Vik'' farm ({{langx|non|Vík}}) since the first [[Sømna Church]] was built there. The name is identical with the word {{wikt-lang|non|vík}} which means "[[bay]]" or "[[inlet]]", here referring to the bay near the church that is now called ''Vikvågen''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4i5MAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt |date=1905 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=16 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=20 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

On 13 November 1940, a [[royal decree|royal resolution]] changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Sømna'' starting on 1 December 1940.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1940 |title=Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1940. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2015110481055_001 |journal=[[Norsk Lovtidend]] |language=no |location=Oslo, Norway |publisher=Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri |page=402}}</ref> The new name was reminiscent of an old name for the area that was historically spelled as ''Sæmnese'' or ''Sørsøm'' ({{langx|non|Søfn}}). The meaning of the name is unknown, but it is possibly derived from the word {{lang|non|sveifa}} which means "wind" or "wave" or it could be derived from the word {{wikt-lang|non|svefja}} which means a "quiet sleep".<ref name="snl">{{Cite web |last=Store norske leksikon |author-link=Store norske leksikon |title=Sømna |url=http://snl.no/S%C3%B8mna |access-date=2011-11-02 |language=Norwegian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4i5MAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt |date=1905 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=16 |location=Kristiania, Norge |page=31 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 14 June 1991. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Gules]], three [[Trefoil (heraldry)|trefoils]] [[argent]] [[Pall (heraldry)|in pall]] stems conjoined"'' ({{langx|no|I rødt tre sølv kløverblad forent i trepass}}). This means the arms have a red [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a group of three [[clover]] leaves ([[trefoil]]s). The clover 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 arms symbolize [[agriculture]], [[culture]], and [[wealth|prosperity]] combined. The arms were designed by Rolf Tidemann.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Sømna |access-date=2023-02-04 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sømna, Nordland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-18-12.html |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1991-06-14 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1991-06-14-416 |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sømna kommune, våpen |url=https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5003-Kommunev%C3%A5pen/Kart%20og%20tegninger%20og%20segl/he10071208070135.tif.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5003-Kommunev%25C3%25A5pen%2F%3Fq%3Ds%25C3%25B8mna |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=Digitalarkivet |publisher=Arkivverket |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within Sømna Municipality. It is part of the [[Sør-Helgeland prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Sømna'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|Sømna||[[Sømna Church]]||[[Vik, Sømna|Vik i Helgeland]]||1876
|}