| Sør-Frøya | |
| Herred: | yes |
| Former: | yes |
| Former Name: | Sørfrøya herred |
| Idnumber: | 1619 |
| County: | Sør-Trøndelag |
| District: | Fosen |
| Established: | 1 Jan 1906 |
| Disestablished: | 1 Jan 1964 |
| Succeeded: | Frøya Municipality |
| Demonym: | Sør-Frøyværing |
| Area Total Km2: | 102 |
| Population Total: | 2,208 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Coordinates: | 63.6769°N 8.6183°W |
Sør-Frøya is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. The 102km2 municipality existed from 1906 until its dissolution in 1964. Sør-Frøya included the southwestern part of the island of Frøya in what is now the municipality of Frøya in Trøndelag county. The main population center of Sør-Frøya was the village of Titran on the western tip of the island. The main church for the municipality was Hallaren Church (Sør-Frøya Church) which is located in Storhallaren on the southern coast of the island.[1]
The municipality was established on 1 January 1906 when the old municipality of Frøien was divided into two new municipalities: Sør-Frøya in the south (population: 2,091) and Nord-Frøya in the north (population: 3,972). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipalities of Sør-Frøya (population: 2,208) and Nord-Frøya (population: 4,348) were merged to form the municipality of Frøya.[2]
The municipality is named after the island of Frøya. The prefix means "southern", literally meaning the southern part of Frøya. The second part of the name comes from Norse mythology. Although Frøya is a variant of the name of the Norse goddess Freyja, the Old Norse form of the name of the island was Frøy or Frey (the ending -a in the modern form is actually the definite article - so the meaning of Frøya is 'the Frøy'). Therefore, the name of the island probably has the same root as the name of the Norse god Freyr, brother to Freyja. The names originally were titles: "lord" or "lady". The oldest meaning of the common word was "(the one) in front; the foremost, the leading" and here in the sense "the island in front of Hitra". Until 1906, the name of the island and predecessor municipality was spelled Frøien (-en is the definite article in Danish-Norwegian).[3] When this new municipality was established in 1906, the name of the municipality was spelled Sørfrøya. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Sør-Frøya.[4]
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elected a mayor.[5]
The municipal council Norwegian: (Herredsstyre) of Sør-Frøya was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
The mayors of Sør-Frøya:[6]