Det Norske Samlaget is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

publishing house founded on 24 March 1868 with the aim to promote and publish books in

Landsmål 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 ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

, now known as

Nynorsk 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 ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-Nor ...

. ''Det Norske Samlaget'' is now divided into two institutions: a literature organization, ''Litteraturselskapet Det Norske Samlaget'', which is a culturally focused political-interest organization, and the publishing portion, ''Forlaget Det Norske Samlaget,'' which since 1978 has been a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

and is responsible for publishing operations. As a political organization, ''Litteraturselskapet Det Norske Samlaget'' works to promote the use of

and the preparation and publication of books in Nynorsk. It is also responsible for several grants and awards such as the

Nynorsk Literature Prize The Nynorsk Literature Prize is awarded annually by Noregs Mållag, Det Norske Teatret and Det Norske Samlaget for the best book in either Nynorsk or dialect. The award is presented for the best novel, poetry, novellas, or drama in the past year. ...

, the

Melsom Prize 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 s ...

(''Melsom-prisen'') established in 1922 through the endowment of shipowner Ferd. Melsom and the Blix Prize (''Blixprisen'') established through the Emma and Elias Blix Endowment. Since 1978 the ''Forlaget Det Norske Samlaget'' has been an independent, separately operating nonprofit foundation. This publishing organization publishes the magazine '' Syn og Segn'', books, historical, biographical and literary works, youth and children's books, textbooks, dictionaries, scientific and popular scientific books in Nynorsk.

History

A small group of determined men came together in Christiania in 1868 and formed the Norwegian Samlaget. One of the founders and first chairman was

Hagbard Emanuel Berner Hagbart (or Hagbard) Emanuel Berner (12 September 1839 – 24 January 1920) was a Norwegian lawyer, Liberal Party politician and newspaper editor. He was one of Norway's leading liberal progressives of his time. He represented the Liberal Party a ...

; he remained chairman until 1877. The formation of Norwegian Samlaget was a natural extension of the efforts to promote Landsmål as the predominant literary and official language of Norway. In 1929, Landsmål was renamed Nynorsk. This promotion of indigenous languages was a common movement over much of the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

of that period.

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

sponsored a form of Icelandic in opposition to the official Danish,

Finns Finns or Finnish people ( fi, suomalaiset, ) are a Baltic Finnic ethnic group native to Finland. Finns are traditionally divided into smaller regional groups that span several countries adjacent to Finland, both those who are native to these ...

promoted use of Finnish in opposition to the official Swedish,

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

was promoted in Belgium, Provençal in the south of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and Slavic dialects proliferated to the east. The debate about a Norwegian language reformation had been in progress for years, and fifteen years earlier

Ivar Aasen Ivar Andreas Aasen (; 5 August 1813 – 23 September 1896) was a Norwegian philologist, lexicographer, playwright, and poet. He is best known for having assembled one of the two official written versions of the Norwegian language, Nynorsk, from va ...

had put forward the idea of reconstituting the Norwegian folk language. Although efforts had previously been made toward organization in the 1860s, it had been heavy work, and they met a great deal of resistance.

Vision

Det Norske Samlaget vision is to provide an independent, cultural impact. As a publisher they strive to develop and sell high quality Nynorsk books and other publishing products. Core Activities include identification and promotion of the good Nynorsk authors and ready availability of quality books.''Det Norske Samlaget'' vision
/ref>

References

{{Authority control Publishing companies of Norway Companies based in Oslo 1868 establishments in Norway Nynorsk