Åsnes og Våler Municipality
Åsnes og Våler or Aasnes og Vaaler is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1849 until its dissolution in 1854. The area is now divided between Åsnes Municipality and Våler Municipality in the traditional district of Solør. The administrative centre was the village of Flisa, where Åsnes Church is located.
General information
The municipality of Aasnes og Vaaler was established in 1849 when the large Hof Municipality was divided into two parts. Initially, Aasnes og Vaaler had a population of 7,087. In 1854, the municipality was divided to create two new municipalities: Aasnes Municipality in the south and Vaaler Municipality in the north. Both municipalities still exist, but the spelling of the names are slightly different.Name
The municipal name was created in 1849 when the old Hof Municipality was divided. The new name was a combination of two areas that made up the new municipality. The word, meaning "and", was in between the two names. The name of the municipality was always spelled Aasnes og Vaaler during its existence, but on 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. This reform changed the spelling in the Norwegian language so that the digraph "aa" was no longer used and instead, the letter å was used. This is why the name is now usually seen written using the modern spelling: Åsnes og Våler, but this was never used during the existence of the municipality.The first name comes from the old Aasnes farm since the first Åsnes Church was built there. The first element is which means "mountain ridge". The last element is which means "headland". The headland that it is referring to is made by the river Glomma near the Åsnes farm which is located beneath a hill. The second name comes from the old Vaaler farm since the first Våler Church was built there. The first element is the plural form of váll which means "clearing in the woods".