Hemsedal, Norway

Hemsedal is a municipality in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Hallingdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Trøym. Hemsedal lies on the Norwegian National Road 52 (Rv 52). Hemsedal is located 220 km (136.70 mi) northwest of Oslo and 273 km (169.63 mi) from Bergen. In 1897, Hemsedal was separated from the municipality of Gol to become a municipality of its own.

The Old Norse form of the name was Hemsudalr. The second element is dalr, which means "dale" or "valley"; the first element is usually taken as the genitive case of the river name Hemsa (now Hemsil) of unknown derivation, although Sophus Bugge believed that it might derive from the Old Norse hemsa, hefnsa or hofn, meaning "going to pasture". The Norwegian word hems ("bed built in a small loft room") is named after the valley of Hemsedal.