Moss is a coastal town and a municipality in �stfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Moss. The city of Moss was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Jel�y was merged with the city on 1 July 1943.
Its administrative district covers areas east of the town, such as the island of Dilling�y in the lake Vansj�. Parts of the town are located on the peninsula of Jel�y. Moss city has 30,723 inhabitants (2012).
The Old Norse form of the name was Mors. It may be derived from an old root mer- which means to "divide" or "split".
The adjacent topography shares similar etymology:
* Mosse-elva. Mosse -"marsh-river-border (Moses?)"+ Elva -"see Elbe, Elver Old Norse for river" The name is thought to be very old and the meaning of it is not clear.
* Mosse-sundet. Mosse-"marsh-river-border (Moses?)"+ Sundet (Moss channel).
* Mosse-herred. Mosse-"marsh-river-border (Moses?)"+ Herred -"Court" akin to hort(us,en), "garden," from PIE *ghr-ti-, from base *gher- "to grasp, enclose" (see yard) Actually "Moss county".
The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 2 April 1954. Moss became a separate city in 1786 and received its first seal in the same year. The seal showed a church under some clouds, the whole thing placed within a circle. Above the circle there were some fasces, the freedom symbol of the late 19th century. A later seal, dating from around 1829, shows the same composition, but now also with six birds flying around the church.
When in the 1930s the city wanted to adopt a coat-of-arms and the birds were chosen as a possible symbol. The original birds probably were doves, symbol of peace. In 1934, the idea of the crow was launched, since the nickname of the inhabitants was 'crows'. The arms were finally granted in 1954 and show a yellow crow on a
