Jondal is a municipality in the county of Hordaland

Hordaland

is a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark and Rogaland. Hordaland is the third largest county after Akershus and Oslo by population. The county administration is located in Bergen...

, 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...

. Jondal was separated from Strandebarm

Strandebarm

Strandebarm is a former municipality in Hordaland county, Norway.It was created in 1837 as Strandebarm formannskapsdistrikt. In 1863 the rural district Jondal, located on the opposite shore of the Hardangerfjord, was separated from Strandebarm to constitute a municipality of its own...

 in 1846.

Name

The 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....

 form of the name was Jónardalr. The first element is an old rivername Jón (now called Jondalselvi) and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The meaning of the rivername is unknown.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms

Coat of arms

A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...

 is from modern times. They were granted in 1987. It shows three hooks for log driving

Log driving

Log driving is a means of log transport which makes use of a river's current to move floating tree trunks downstream to sawmills and pulp mills.It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America...

.

Famous residents

• The singer and actress Herborg Kråkevik
  Herborg Kråkevik
  Herborg Kråkevik is a Norwegian singer and actress, known for her works with Norwegian folksongs and some stage works and many movies...
  
   is from Jondal.
• Bjørg Hope Galtung
  Bjørg Hope Galtung
  Bjørg Hope Galtung is a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party.She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Hordaland in 1993, but was not re-elected in 1997. She served in the position of deputy representative during the terms 1981–1985 and 1997–2001.Galtung served as mayor in...
  
  was the mayor of Jondal from 1979 to 1993, only leaving to sit in the national Parliament.