Heddal is a village and parish in

Notodden Notodden () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Øst-Telemark. ...

municipality in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

County, Norway.

History

The parish of ''Hitterdal'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

was separated from Heddal both as a city and a municipality of its own, in 1913. Heddal was subsequently merged with Notodden January 1, 1964. The Heddal clerical district consists of two parishes: Hitterdal and Lisleherad.

Etymology

The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

form of the name was ''Heitrardalr''. The first element is the genitive case of a former name of the River ''Heitr'', now known as

Heddøla Heddøla is a river in the municipalities Hjartdal and Notodden in Vestfold og Telemark, Norway. It starts from the junction of Hjartdøla and Skogsåa in Sauland, and flows through the valley Heddal ending in the lake Heddalsvatnet Heddalsvatnet ( ...

, a tributary of the

Skien River The Skien watershed is the third largest watershed of Norway after those of the Glomma and the Drammen rivers. The catchment area is , and the maximum length is . The Skien watershed includes rivers which feed Lake Norsjø above Skien; * Vinje ...

. The last element is ''dalr'' meaning dale or valley. The original meaning of the river name is unknown. Until 1918 the name was written ''Hitterdal'' or ''Hiterdal''. From 1918 on, the name has been ''Heddal''.

Geography

Nearby rivers include the River

Hjartdøla Hjartdøla is a river in Hjartdal municipality in Vestfold og Telemark, Norway. The river is formed at the convergence of Skjesvatnet, Breidvatnet and Bjordøla. From here, it runs into lake Hjartsjå and through Hjartdal, before it junction wi ...

Notable people from Heddal

Egil Bergsland Egil Bergsland (born 2 September 1924 in Notodden, died 12 October 2007) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Telemark in 1977, but was not re-elected in 1981. He had previously served a ...

(1924–2007), Norwegian politician for the Labour Party *

Thorolf Bugge Thorolf Bugge (1 October 1879 – 21 May 1935) was a Norwegian trade unionist and politician for the Labour and Communist parties. He was born in Heddal as a son of district physician Johan Carl Bugge (1847–1902) and Christine Theodora Drolsum ...

(1879–1935), Norwegian trade unionist and politician *

Olea Crøger Olea Crøger (July 17, 1801 – November 21, 1855) was a Norwegian music teacher who was a pioneer in the collection of folk music and folklore. She is considered to have been one of the first to systematically collect folk songs and melodies in Te ...

(1801–1855), Folklore collector, who published old folk tunes *

Sigmund Groven Sigmund Groven (born 16 March 1946 in Heddal, Telemark) is a Norwegian classical harmonica player, today considered one of the world's leading classical harmonica players. He plays with a large number of the world's leading musicians and orchestr ...

(born 1946), Norwegian classical harmonica player *

Hans Herbjørnsrud Hans Herbjørnsrud (born 2 January 1938) is a Norwegian author of short stories. His works frequently play with the differences between Norwegian languages Bokmål and Nynorsk and the various Norwegian dialects. His stories' characters sometimes ...

(1938-), Author of short stories.

External links

Church at Hitterdal, Norway
Villages in Vestfold og Telemark Former municipalities of Norway Notodden {{Telemark-geo-stub

History

Etymology

Geography

Notable people from Heddal

See also

External links