Son is an old town, and a former municipality. It is located in

Vestby Vestby is a municipality in former Akershus now Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Follo traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vestby. General information Name The municipality (originally t ...

municipality in Akershus.

Overview

Son is located at the

Oslofjord The Oslofjord (, ; en, Oslo Fjord) is an inlet in the south-east of Norway, stretching from an imaginary line between the and lighthouses and down to in the south to Oslo in the north. It is part of the Skagerrak strait, connecting the Nor ...

, 50 kilometres south of the Norwegian capital Oslo, just north of Moss and near the border of

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side ...

, and is located west of the village of Hølen. Before the merge with Vestby the number of inhabitants in Son was about 800–900 (1940). Today, Son, including Store Brevik has 5035 inhabitants (2006). Son, together with the village of Hølen, was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Son and Hølen were separated as municipalities of their own January 1, 1848. On January 1, 1964, Son was merged with Vestby and then lost its status as a town (ladested).A small town community
www.herison.no

History

In the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

era, Son became famous as a harbour. Timber came from the nearby areas and was partially floated down the river. On many Dutch maps from that time (the oldest being from 1582) the Oslo fjord is noted as ''Zoon Water''. However, when this period ended, Son lost much of its importance. Later, Son became known as an 'artist town', as many well-known painters and writers have resided there.

The name

The name Son is pronounced with a long > u:n ''Son'' is probably the old name of the river Hølenselva ( Norse ''*Són''). Some distance up this river lies the parish Såner ( Norse ''Sánar''), and this name is most likely the

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

of ''*Són''. In Norse literature is the word ''són'' used as a poetic word for

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...

, and it is probably an old word for liquid. Until 1889 the name was written ''Soon''.

Notable people

References

SonNorway - The Place without Mondays
Former cities in Norway Former municipalities of Norway Populated places in Akershus Villages in Akershus Vestby {{Akershus-geo-stub