The 517-square-kilometre (200 sq mi) municipality is the 207th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Sør-Odal is the 132nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,069. The municipality's population density is 16.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (44/sq mi) and its population has increased by 3.4% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]
General information
The parish of Søndre Odalen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The borders of the municipality have not changed since that time.[6]
Name
The municipality was originally named Søndre Odalen (later Sør-Odal), after the valley in which it is located. The first element in the name is the word søndre or sør, both of which mean "southern". The last element of the name is the old district name Odalen (Old Norse: Ódalr). The first part of this is ǫ́ which is an alternate form of the word á which means "river" or "creek" (here it's referring to the Glåma river). The last part of this is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The prefix "Søndre" was added when the old Odalen parish was divided in 1819 into Nordre Odalen in the north and Søndre Odalen in the south.[7] On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sør-Odal, using an alternate word for "south" and removing the definite form ending -en.[8]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 10 January 1992. The official blazon is "Gules, three keys Orin pall" (Norwegian: I rødt tre gull nøkler stilt i trepass). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is three keys aligned in pall. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The keys symbolize justice, knowledge, and positive ideals. The design was chosen to represent the three parishes of Oppstad, Strøm, and Ullern and the three local bodies of water: Glomma, Oppstadåa, and Storsjøen. The arms were designed by Harald Hallstensen, a graphical designer. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[9][10][11][12]
The municipality is a rural area in the Odalen valley that is located along the river Glåma and around the southern side of the lake Storsjøen. It is bordered by the municipalities of Eidskog in the south, by Kongsvinger in the east, and by Nord-Odal and Grue in the north. The terrain is dominated by rolling hills, lakes, and pineforests.
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Sør-Odal is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
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