Etnedal

Etnedal is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bruflat.

Etnedal was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1894 after the merger of the areas Nordre Etnedal (from Nord-Aurdal municipality) and Bruflat (from Sør-Aurdal municipality).

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Etnardalr. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Etna (Old Norse: Etn) and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The meaning of the river name is unknown but it is possibly derived from etja (meaning "push forward") or eta (meaning "eat").

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted by royal degree on 14 July 1989. The arms show the old Lunde bridge (Lundebru) in gold on a blue background. It is one of the best preserved stone bridges in the country and it is now a national monument. It is also Northern Europe's largest dry stone-arch bridge. The bridge was built in 1829 on the old King's road to Bergen. A portion of the King's road was refurbished and turned into a footpath in 1992 and is now a natural and cultural walking path.