Hafslo
Encyclopedia
Hafslo is a village and a former municipality
Former municipalities of Norway
This is a list of former municipalities of Norway, i.e. municipalities that no longer exist.When the local council system was introduced in Norway in 1837-38, the country had 392 municipalities. In 1958 the number had grown to a total of 744 rural municipalities, 64 city municipalities as well as a...

 in Sogn og Fjordane
Sogn og Fjordane
is a county in Norway, bordering Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland. The county administration is in the town of Hermansverk in Leikanger municipality while the largest town is Førde....

 county
Counties of Norway
Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties . The counties form the primary first-level subdivisions of Norway and are further divided into 430 municipalities...

 in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. It is located in the present-day municipality of Luster
Luster, Norway
Luster is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative centre is Gaupne. Other villages include Skjolden, Hafslo, Jostedal, and Veitastrond....

. The former municipality included the Hafslo village area, the Urnes stave church
Urnes stave church
Urnes Stave Church is a stave church at the Ornes farm, along the Lustrafjord in the municipality of Luster in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway, about east of the village of Hafslo....

 area (across the fjord), and the Veitastrond
Veitastrond
Veitastrond is a small village in the western part of the municipality of Luster in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located near the Jostedalsbreen glacier, and Jostedalsbreen National Park surrounds the village on three sides...

 valley. The 0.18 square kilometres (44.5 acre) village of Hafslo has a population (2009) of 305 people.

The lakes Hafslovatn and Veitastrondvatn surround the village of Hafslo on the south and west sides. The village of Sogndalsfjøra
Sogndalsfjøra
Sogndalsfjøra is the administrative centre of the municipality of Sogndal in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located where the river Sogndalselvi runs out in the Sogndalsfjord, a branch of the Sognefjord. The village has a population of 3,208...

 lies 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the south; the village of Gaupne
Gaupne
Gaupne is a village which is the administrative center of the municipality of Luster in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The village has a population of 1,075. The village is located along the Gaupnefjord, an arm of the Lustrafjord, about north of the village of Hafslo. The village of...

 lies about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the north; and the village of Veitastrond
Veitastrond
Veitastrond is a small village in the western part of the municipality of Luster in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located near the Jostedalsbreen glacier, and Jostedalsbreen National Park surrounds the village on three sides...

 lies about 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) to the northwest.

Name

The name comes from the old Hafslo farm (Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

: Hafrsló), since the church is located there. The first element of the name comes from the old male name Hafr or from the word for "goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

" (also hafr). The second element of the name comes from the old word ló meaning "meadow
Meadow
A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...

, probably due to the excellent farming areas nearby.

History

Hafslo was established as a municipality
Municipalities of Norway
Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties , and 430 municipalities...

 on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt
Formannskapsdistrikt
Formannskapsdistrikt was the name for a Norwegian local self-government districts put into force in 1838. This system of municipality was created in a bill approved by the Storting and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January 1837...

). On 1 January 1963, Hafslo was merged with the neighboring municipality of Luster
Luster, Norway
Luster is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative centre is Gaupne. Other villages include Skjolden, Hafslo, Jostedal, and Veitastrond....

. Prior to the merger, Hafslo had a population of 2,384.

Notable residents

  • Sylfest Lomheim
    Sylfest Lomheim
    Sylfest Lomheim is a Norwegian philologist.He was the director of the Norwegian Language Council from 2003 to 2010. He is also associate professor in the Norwegian language at the University of Agder...

     (born 1945) – Norwegian linguist
  • Jens Sterri
    Jens Sterri
    Jens K. Sterri is a Norwegian civil servant.Born in Hafslo as the fourth of ten children, he decided to study law. He graduated from the University of Oslo as cand.jur. in 1949, and worked as a secretary in the Ministries of Justice and Agriculture, as well as an attorney...

     (born 1923) – civil servant
  • Kjellfred Weum
    Kjellfred Weum
    Kjellfred Weum is a former Norwegian hurdler.He finished seventh at the 1969 European Championships. He also participated at the 1968 Summer Olympics as well as the European Indoor Games in 1966, 1967 and 1968 without reaching the final. He became Norwegian champion eight times in a row, in the...

     (born 1940) – hurdler
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