Åsnes og Våler or Aasnes og Vaaler is a former municipality in the old Hedmark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1849 until 1854 when it was divided into the present-day municipalities of Åsnes and Våler. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Flisa, where Åsnes Church was located.
History
The municipality of Åsnes og Våler was established in 1849 when the municipality of Hof was divided (see formannskapsdistrikt law). Initially, Åsnes og Våler had a population of 7,087. In 1854, the municipality of Åsnes og Våler was divided to create two new municipalities: Åsnes with a population of 3,677 and Våler with a population of 3,410. Both municipalities still exist.[3]
Name
The municipal name was created in 1849 (and in use until 1854) when the old municipality of Hof was divided. The new name was a combination of two areas that made up the new municipality. The word og, 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 (long after this municipality was dissolved). 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.[4][5]
The first name comes from the old Åsnes farm (Old Norse: Ásnes) since the first Åsnes Church was built there. The first element is áss which means "mountainridge". The last element is nes 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.[6] The second name comes from the old Våler farm (Old Norse: Válir) since the first Våler Church was built there. The first element is the plural form of váll which means "clearing in the woods".[7]
