Høgnorsk (, ; meaning ''High Norwegian''), is a term for varieties of the

Norwegian language Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) 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 regio ...

from

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-N ...

that reject most of the official reforms that have been introduced since the creation of . Høgnorsk typically accepts the initial reforms that, among other things, removed certain silent letters of

etymological Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words a ...

origin, while keeping most of the grammar intact.

Torleiv Hannaas Torleiv Hannaas (; 14 July 1874 – 19 November 1929) was a Norwegian philologist. He was born in Hornnes as a son of farmers Thomas Nilsson Hannaas (1843–1915) and Anne Tolleivsdotter Vetrhus (1845–1944). In July 1906 he married teacher ...

is often credited for introducing the term in an article in 1922. He used it analogously to

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

(), is the linguistic term for the southern and central dialects of German, spoken in the more mountainous parts of the German language area, in contrast to Low German ( or ) spoken mainly in the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland (german: Norddeutsches Tiefland) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Balt ...

. However, non-scientifically, (unlike its English equivalent "High German") is the common word for "Standard

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

". Scientific German term for Standard German are ("New High German") or ("Standard German"). pointing out that

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 ...

, the creator of

orthography, had especially valued the dialects of the mountainous areas of middle and western Norway, as opposed to the dialects of the lowlands of eastern Norway, which Hannaas called (Flat Norwegian, like ). The written High Norwegian language is a tradition originating from the first version of the New Norwegian written language (then called ), as it was built by Ivar Aasen and later used by classical New Norwegian authors as

Aasmund Olavsson Vinje Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (6 April 1818 – 30 July 1870) was a Norwegian poet and journalist who is remembered for poetry, travel writing, and his pioneering use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk). Background Vinje was born into a poor but ...

Arne Garborg Arne Garborg (born Aadne Eivindsson Garborg) (25 January 1851 – 14 January 1924) was a Norwegian writer. Garborg championed the use of Landsmål (now known as Nynorsk, or New Norwegian), as a literary language; he translated the Odyssey into ...

, Olav Nygard and

Olav H. Hauge Olav Håkonson Hauge (18 August 1908 – 23 May 1994) was a Norwegian horticulturist, translator and poet. Biography Hauge was born at the village of Ulvik in Hordaland, Norway. His parents Håkon Hauge (1877-1954) and Katrina Hakestad (1873-19 ...

. The movement grew out of opposition to the official policy which aimed at leveling out the differences between and the other main variety of Norwegian language, . Reforms to this end were carried through in 1938 and 1959. Initially there was considerable resistance against these reforms, but the resulting standard is now widely accepted. is currently supported by

Ivar Aasen-sambandet Ivar Aasen-sambandet (The Ivar Aasen Union) is an umbrella organization of associations and individuals promoting the use of the Høgnorsk variant of the Norwegian language. History The union was founded in 1965 as a response to the '' samnorsk'' ...

and the activists behind Målmannen, but has relatively few active users. The basis for the High Norwegian language direction, is a wish to preserve the New Norwegian written language as an independent language, free of the strong influence from that today's New Norwegian has.

References

External links

'' Articles in Høgnorsk'' on the '' Nynorsk edition'' of

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

association promoting Høgnorsk.
Mållekken
a Høgnorsk

wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...

.
Høgnorskportalen sambandet.no
a resource page with hundreds of articles written in Høgnorsk.
Tidskriftet Målmannen
a magazine promoting the Høgnorsk language.
Norsk Formlæra
a høgnorsk grammar.
Norsk Ordlista
a høgnorsk dictionary. Norwegian orthography Nynorsk Linguistic purism {{Nordic-lang-stub