The parish of
Aa was established as the municipality of Lyngdal on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1909, the municipality was split into three:
Austad in the south (population: 1,263),
Kvås in the north (population: 736) and Lyngdal in the central area (population: 2,698). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the
Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipalities of Austad (population: 608), Kvås (population: 493), Lyngdal (population: 2,916) as well as the Gitlevåg area (population: 103) in
Spangereid municipality, west of
Lenesfjorden, were all merged to form one large municipality of Lyngdal. On 1 January 1971, the Ytre Skarstein and Indre Skarstein areas of Lyngdal (population: 21) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of
Farsund. On 1 January 2001, the municipality of Lyngdal declared that the municipal centre of
Alleen would be a
town called
Lyngdal. On 1 January 2020, the neighboring municipality of
Audnedal was merged into Lyngdal municipality.
Name The municipality is named after the Lyngdalen valley () since it is the valley in which the municipality is located. The first element is the
genitive case of the river name
Lygna. This name comes from the word which means "quietness" or "calm". The last element is which means "
valley" or "dale". Prior to 1908, the
parish (but not the municipality) of Lyngdal was called
Aa, named after the vicarage. The name of the vicarage was first mentioned in 1312 as "a Am", the dative plural of
á which means "(small) river". The farm lies between two rivers.
Coat of arms The original
coat of arms was granted on 27 March 1987 and in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was enlarged. The official
blazon was "
Vert a cow
statant argent" (). This means the arms had a green
field (background) and the
charge was a
cow that was facing to the left. The cow had a
tincture of
argent which meant it was commonly colored white, but if it was made out of metal, then silver was used. The cow was chosen since the local breed of cows () has been very well known across Norway since the 19th century. The yearly cattle fair traders from all over
Southern Norway and
Western Norway visit the municipality to get cows. The arms were designed by Torgeir Schjølberg. The current
coat of arms was approved for use starting on 1 January 2020. The arms have a green
field (background) and the
charge is a tree on top of three wavy lines. The tree and wavy lines have a
tincture of
argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The tree symbolizes growth. It has nine leaves symbolizing the nine main population centres within Lyngdal. The wavy lines represent waves and meadows. There are three white lines to represent the three large rivers in the municipality:
Lygna,
Audna, and
Mandalselva. The two green wavy lines (between the white wavy lines represent the two valleys in the municipality:
Lyngdalen and
Audnedalen. The arms were designed by Richard Haugland.
Churches The
Church of Norway has five parishes () within the municipality of Lyngdal. It is part of the
Lister og Mandal prosti (
deanery) in the
Diocese of Agder og Telemark. ==History==