Editing Songdalen (section)

==General information==
[[File:Møllebakken, Songdalen, Vest-Agder, Norway - panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|View of the Møllebakke area in Songdalen]]
[[File:Finsland - panoramio.jpg|thumb|left|View of the Finsland area]]
[[File:Greipstad kirke.JPG|thumb|left|View of the [[Greipstad Church]]]]
Songdalen was a relatively short-lived municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of [[Greipstad]] (population: 2,061), most of the municipality of [[Finsland (municipality)|Finsland]] (population: 797) except for the Kleveland bru area, and the Eikeland area of [[Øvrebø (municipality)|Øvrebø]] (population: 39) were all merged to form the new municipality of Songdalen. On 1 January 1978, a small area of [[Vennesla]] municipality (population: 10) was transferred to Songdalen. Then on 1 January 1984, the unpopulated Hauglandsvatnet area was transferred from [[Vennesla]] to Songdalen.<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>

On 1 January 2020, the three neighboring municipalities of [[Kristiansand]], Songdalen, and [[Søgne]] merged to form one large municipality called ''Kristiansand''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nye Kristiansand |url=https://www.kristiansand.kommune.no/nye-kristiansand/ |access-date=2017-11-05 |publisher=Kristiansand kommune |language=Norwegian |archive-date=19 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419150219/https://www.kristiansand.kommune.no/nye-kristiansand/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Name===
The municipal name is relatively new, having been created in 1964. The name comes from the local river Songdalselva ({{langx|non|Sygna}}). The lower part of this river is also known as the [[Søgneelva]]. The first element of the name comes from the [[Old Norse]] name for the river. The river name is derived from the verb {{wikt-lang|non|súga}} which means "to suck". 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 |pages=46–47 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref><ref name="snl">{{Cite web |last=Store norske leksikon |author-link=Store norske leksikon |title=Songdalen |url=https://snl.no/Songdalen |access-date=2017-01-13 |language=Norwegian}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 20 December 1985 and they were in use until the municipality was dissolved on 1 January 2020. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], three oak leaves in [[Pall (heraldry)|pall]] and three acorns in [[Pall (heraldry)|pall inverted]] stems conjoined [[Or (heraldry)|Or]]"'' ({{langx|no|I grønt tre gull eikeblad i trepass med eikenøtter mellom}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is three conjoined [[oak]] leaves with three [[acorn]]s. The charge has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The green color in the field and the oak leaf and acorn design symbolize the importance of the abundant oak forests in the municipality. There are three leaves/acorns to represent each of the three former municipalities of [[Greipstad]], [[Finsland (municipality)|Finsland]], and [[Øvrebø (municipality)|Øvrebø]] which were merged to form the municipality of Songdalen in 1964. The arms were designed by Nils Th. Finstad.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Songdalen |access-date=2023-01-21 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Songdalen, Vest-Agder (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-10-17.html |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1985-12-20 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1985-12-13-2324?q=flagg |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

{{See also-text|Coats of arms of [[Coat of arms of Eigersund|Eigersund]]|[[Coat of arms of Nedre Eiker|Nedre Eiker]]|[[Coat of arms of Tingvoll|Tingvoll]]| [[Coat of arms of Øvre Eiker|Øvre Eiker]]}}

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has two parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Songdalen. 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 Songdalen'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="1"|Finsland||[[Finsland Church]]||[[Finsland]]||1803
|-
|rowspan="1"|Greipstad||[[Greipstad Church]]||[[Nodeland]]||1829
|}