Nord-Aurdal

Nord-Aurdal is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fagernes.

The parish of Nordre Aurdal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The area of Nordre Etnedal was transferred from Nord-Aurdal to the neighboring municipality of Etnedal on 1 January 1894.

The municipality is served by Fagernes Airport, Leirin. In Nord-Aurdal, there is an alpine skiing center called Valdres Alpinsenter.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Aurardalr. The first element is the genitive case of an old river name Aur (now called Bøaelva) and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The old river name is derived from aurr which means "gravel". The name was changed from Nordre- to Nord- Aurdal in the early 20th century. Both nordre and nord mean "north", so the name Nord-Aurdal means "(the) northern (part of) Aurdal". (The parish of Aurdal was divided in 1805.)