The municipality of Hjelmeland og Fister was established in 1859 when the old municipality of Hjelmeland was split into Årdal and Hjelmeland og Fister. Initially, Hjelmeland og Fister had 3,084 residents. On 6 March 1869, a small area of Årdal municipality (population: 40) was transferred to Hjelmeland og Fister. The municipality was split into two on 1 July 1884. The Fister islands and the land surrounding the Fisterfjorden (population: 832) became the new municipality of Fister with a total of 42.56 square kilometres (16.43 sq mi) of land.[4] The rest of the municipality (population: 2,249) became the new municipality of Hjelmeland with 535 square kilometres (207 sq mi) of land.[3][5]
Name
The municipal name is a combination of the names of two areas that make up the municipality, literally meaning "Hjelmeland and Fister". The first part is named after the old Hjelmeland farm (Old Norse: Hjalmaland) since the first Hjelmeland Church was built there. Today the farm is a part of the Hjelmelandsvågen urban area. The first element of the name is the plural genitive case of hjalmr which means "helmet" (likely referring to two hills behind the farm which have the form of two helmets). The last element is land which means "land" or "farm".[6]
The second part is named after the old Fister farm (Old Norse: Fístr) since the first Fister Church was built there. The name probably comes from the word fístr which means "windy" or "hardy". It is probably related to the verb fise which means "to pass gas".[7]
^ abHelland, Amund (1888). "Hjelmeland herred". XI Stavanger amt. Norges land og folk (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 361. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
^ abHelland, Amund (1888). "Fister herred". XI Stavanger amt. Norges land og folk (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 354. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
