Snåsa

Snåsa (ˈsnòːsɑ; Snåase) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherred region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Snåsa. Other villages include Agle and Jørstad. Snåsa is one of the last strongholds for the seriously endangered Southern Sami language. The municipality is the 23rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Snåsa is the 277th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,033 inhabitants. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 6.1% over the previous 10-year period. The parish of Snåsa was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1874, the eastern district of Snåsa (population: 1,015) was separated to form a new, separate municipality of Lierne. This left Snåsa with 2,235 residents. Snåsa's boundaries have not changed since then. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Nord-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county. The municipality (originally the parish) is named Snåsa, but it was spelled Snaasen until the early 20th century. The name comes from the Old Norse word Snǫs which means "prominent mountain" or "overhanging rock" (possibly referring to the mountain of Bergsåsen, at the inner end of the lake Snåsavatnet). The Southern Sami language version of the name is Snåasen tjïelte, which was officially accepted in 2010 as an alternate name for the Norwegian name Snåsa kommune. The coat of arms was granted on 17 March 1994. The official blazon is "Azure, a lady's-slipper orchid Or." (I blått en gull marisko). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a lady's-slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus). The lady's-slipper orchid 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 design was chosen to symbolize the prevalence of orchids growing in the municipality. This particular flower is one of at least 15 species of orchids that grow in Snåsa.