Solum is a former municipality in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

county, Norway. The parish of Solum was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

). According to the 1835 census the municipality had a population of 3,557. Solum is located west of the city

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsj ...

, and encompassed districts such as Nenset, Tollnes, Flakvarp,

Skotfoss Skotfoss is a village in Skien municipality, Norway, located where lake Norsjø feeds into the Skien Watershed. The village has a population of 1,700 people. Skotfoss was a part of Solum municipality until the municipalities of Solum and Skien we ...

, and Klyve. On 1 July 1916 an area with 1,042 inhabitants was moved to Skien, and on 1 July 1920 an area with 1,614 inhabitants was moved to

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn was ...

. On 1 January 1964 the rest of Solum was incorporated into Skien, along with

Gjerpen Gjerpen is a former township which is now part of the municipality of Skien, in Telemark county, Norway. Location The parish of Gjerpen was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). According to the 1835 census th ...

and

Valebø Valebø is a village in the municipality of Skien, Norway. It is located on the eastern shore of Norsjø. On the opposite side of the lake lies Ulefoss. From 1837 Valebø was administratively a part of Holla. On 1 January 1964, Valebø became a ...

district. Prior to the merger Solum had a population of 13,706.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) was named after the farm Solum (

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

''Sólheimar''), since the first church was built there. The first element is ''sól'' f '

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

' (here in the sense 'sunny'), the last element is the plural form of ''heimr''.

References

* * Former municipalities of Norway {{Telemark-geo-stub