Spydeberg was a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in former

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 ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, until December 31. 2019. At January 1. 2020 it became a part of the new and greater municipality named " Indre Østfold Kommune" after the region, together with

Askim Askim () is a town and a former municipality in (from January 1, 2020) Indre Østfold Kommune in the former county of Østfold county (from January 1, 2020 a part of Viken county), Norway. The administrative centre of the Askim municipality wa ...

and

Trøgstad Trøgstad is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Skjønhaug. The municipality is divided into the parishes of Skjønhaug, Havnås and Båstad. The parish of ''Trygstad'' was ...

and Eidsberg and

Hobøl Hobøl was a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Elvestad. Hobøl is situated about southeast of Oslo. The parish of ''Haabøl'' was established as a municipality on 1 Janu ...

kommuner (Municipalities). The administrative centre of the Spydeberg

was the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of Spydeberg. Spydeberg Kommune (

) was divided into the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es of Spydeberg,

Heli Heli, also ''heli'', ''heli-'' may refer to: People *Heli, King of Britain (mythical) *Heli (Bible), listed as an ancestor of Jesus *Heli (name) Places * Heli, Tangyuan County (鹤立镇), town in Tangyuan County, Heilongjiang, China * Heli, Funi ...

, and Hovin and was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The

of Spydeberg has approximately 5,500 inhabitants. It is located southeast of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

and is easily reached by both car and bus and train. At the most there used to be 16 daily buses to

(the capital of

), and about 21 train departures. Like the rest of the Indre Østfold region, many of the citizens of Spydeberg commute daily to

for work.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old ''Spydeberg'' farm (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

: ''Spjótaberg''), since the first church was built here. The first element is 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 ...

genitive case of ''spjót'' which means "

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

" and the last element is ''berg'' which means "

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

". The word "spear" is here probably referring to some outstanding points of a nearby mountain.

Coat-of-arms

The

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...

is from modern times. They were granted on 30 June 1978. The arms show three

canting ' (IPA: , VOS Spelling: ''tjanting'', jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦛꦶꦁ, Tjanting) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax ( jv, ) in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely ''batik tulis'' (lit. "written batik"). Traditional '' ...

silver spear points (from the word ''spyd'' which comes from the Old Norse word ''spjót'') on a red background. The model for the spear points was unearthed at a burial mound near Mørk in 1905. The three spears represent the three parishes in the municipality. It was designed by Truls Nygaard.

Notable residents

Sister cities

The municipality of Spydeberg has been quite active in international relations for over 20 years. The town has

sister cities A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, Sweden, and Latvia. * Thyholm,

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

* Straupe, Pārgauja, Latvia *

Kungsör Kungsör is a locality and the seat of Kungsör Municipality in Västmanland County Västmanland County ( sv, Västmanlands län) is a county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland, Örebro, Gävleborg, Dala ...

Västmanland Västmanland ( or ), is a historical Swedish province, or ''landskap'', in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland. Västmanland means "(The) Land of the Western Men", where the "western men" (''väst ...

, Sweden

References

External links

* * *
Municipal fact sheet
from Statistics Norway {{authority control Municipalities of Østfold Villages in Østfold