Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties; some Norwegian and Swedish dialects, in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are not mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age.
Nynorsk is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language parallel to the Dano-Norwegian written language (Riksmål). Nynorsk became the name in 1929, and it is after a series of reforms still a variation which is closer to Landsmål, whereas Bokmål is closer to Riksmål and Danish.
Knut Ødegård is a Norwegian poet.
Tarjei Vesaas was a Norwegian poet and novelist. Vesaas is widely considered to be one of Norway's greatest writers of the twentieth century and perhaps its most important since World War II.
Elias Blix was a Norwegian professor, theologian, hymn writer, and a politician for the Liberal Party. Blix wrote numerous hymns and was largely responsible for translating the New Testament into the Norwegian language.
The Norwegian language conflict is an ongoing controversy in Norwegian culture and politics related to the written versions of Norwegian. From 1536/1537 until 1814, Danish was the standard written language of Norway due to the union of crowns with Denmark, in which time the Danish Empire was founded. As a result, the overall form of chosen modern written Norwegian and its leaning towards or away from Danish underpins controversies in anti-imperialistic nationalism, rural versus urban cultures, literary history, diglossia, spelling reform, and orthography.
Olav Håkonson Hauge was a Norwegian horticulturist, translator and poet.
Johannes Heggland was a Norwegian novelist, short story and children's literature writer, playwright, and elected official with the Centre Party. He is most commonly associated with two of his historic plays Mostraspelet and Håkonarspelet – Kongen med gullhjelmen.
Einar Økland is a Norwegian poet, playwright, essayist and children's writer.
Arnljot Eggen was a Norwegian journalist, teacher and poet who also wrote plays and children's books.
Torvald Tu was a Norwegian poet, playwright, novelist and writer of humoresques.
Hagbard Emanuel Berner was a Norwegian jurist, Liberal Party politician and newspaper editor. He initiated a series of long-lived enterprises, including the publishing house Det Norske Samlaget, the newspaper Dagbladet and the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights. Berner served as a liberal Member of Parliament, as Auditor General of Norway and as Burgomaster of Christiania.
Rasmus Flo was a Norwegian teacher, philologist, magazine editor and translator. He was a noted proponent of the use of the Nynorsk language.
Nikolaus Gjelsvik was a Norwegian jurist and law professor.
The Melsom Prize is a Norwegian literary award. It is given annually to a writer or translator who writes in Nynorsk, for a work published during the preceding year. The prize was established in 1922 by the shipowner Ferdinand Melsom. The prize sum was 40,000 Norwegian kroner in 2015.
The House in the Dark is a 1945 novel by the Norwegian writer Tarjei Vesaas. It tells the story of a frightening, darkened house, to which men are trying to dig tunnels, but are routinely captured and taken away in a truck. The novel was written during the last winter of World War II and is an allegory for the German occupation of Norway. An English translation by Elizabeth Rokkan was published in 1976.
Andreas Haavoll was a Norwegian schoolteacher, banker, publisher, newspaper editor and magazine editor.
Landstads kirkesalmebog, often simply known as Landstads salmebok, was the most important hymnal for the Church of Norway from 1870 to 1926.
Nokre salmar was the first Nynorsk hymnal. It was published anonymously by Elias Blix. The volume was first issued as smaller booklets, with the first in 1869, and then in 1870 and 1875, and then in an expanded version in 1883 published by Det Norske Samlaget. On March 4, 1892 Nokre Salmar was authorized for use in public worship, and these Landsmål hymns were then incorporated into Landstad's hymnal as nos. 635 to 791.
Linda Eide is a Norwegian television and radio presenter, programme producer, comedian, actor and chat-show host.
