Seljord
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Seljord".

Seljord kommune
—  Municipality  —
Coat of arms Telemark within Norway
Seljord within Telemark
Coordinates: 59°30′48″N 8°38′56″E / 59.51333, 8.64889
Country	Norway
County	Telemark
District	Vest-Telemark
Municipality ID	NO-0828
Administrative centre	Seljord
Government
- Mayor (2003)	John Kleivstaul (Sp)
Area (Nr. 155 in Norway)
- Total	715 km² (276.1 sq mi)
- Land	670 km² (258.7 sq mi)
Population (2004)
- Total	2,899
- Density	4/km² (10.4/sq mi)
- Change (10 years)	-6.1 %
- Rank in Norway	279
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Official language form	Nynorsk
Data from Statistics Norway
Website: www.seljord.kommune.no

Seljord is a municipality in the county of Telemark, Norway.

The parish of Siljord was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

Seljord is famous for its sea serpent, Selma, who allegedly lives in Lake Seljord (Seljordsvatnet).

The yearly Dyrsku'n market, held since 1866, attracts 60-80,000 visitors.

The name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old farm Seljord (Norse Seljugerði), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of selja f 'sallow-tree, willow', the last element is gerði n 'field'.

Until 1889 the name was written "Silgjord" (or "Sillejord").

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1989). It shows the sea serpent Selma.

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