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Concept
Gjesdal
Summary
Gjesdal is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ålgård. Other villages in Gjesdal include Dirdal, Frafjord, Gilja, Gjesdal, and Oltedal. The municipality lies about to the southwest of the city of Stavanger in southwestern Norway.
The European route E39 highway runs through the western side of the municipality. On the east side of the municipality, the Frafjord Tunnel connects the Frafjord valley with the rest of the municipality.
The municipality is the 187th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Gjesdal is the 95th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 12,131. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 12.6% over the previous 10-year period.
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gjesdal farm (Gesdalir) since the first Gjesdal Church was built there. The first element is probably the old name of the local river, but the meaning is uncertain. The last element is the plural form of dalr which means "valley" or "dale".
Before 1889, the name was spelled Gjæsdal, which is the Danish spelling. During the period from 1889 to 1917 it was spelled Gjesdal (Norwegian language version). Then starting in 1918, it was spelled Gjestal after the pronunciation of the local dialect (the d in dal is pronounced t because of the voiceless consonant s in front). In 1964, the spelling was changed back to the etymologically correct form of Gjesdal.
The coat of arms was granted on 15 March 1985. The official blazon is "Azure, a ram's head caboshed argent" (I blått et sølv værhode sett forfra). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is the head of a ram. The ram head has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The ram was chosen as a symbol because sheep breeding and wool manufacturing have both been important throughout the history of Gjesdal.
Official source
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