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Modern Norwegian ( no, moderne norsk) is 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 r ...
that emerged after the
Middle Norwegian Middle Norwegian (Norwegian Bokmål: ; Norwegian Nynorsk: , ) is a form of the Norwegian language that was spoken from 1350 up to 1550 and was the last phase of Norwegian in its original state, before Danish replaced Norwegian as the official wr ...
transition period (1350–1536) and
Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/ mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from th ...
. The transition to Modern Norwegian is usually dated to 1525, or 1536, the year of the
Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...
and the beginning of the kingdoms of
Denmark–Norway Denmark–Norway ( Danish and Norwegian: ) was an early modern multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe ...
(1537–1814). In contrast to
Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
, Modern Norwegian has simplified
inflection In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...
s and a more fixed syntax. Old Norse vocabulary is to a considerable degree substituted by
Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...
, and this is the main reason why Modern Norwegian, together with contemporary Norwegian in general, Danish and Swedish, is no longer mutually intelligible with Insular Nordic ( Icelandic and Faroese), except from some Nynorsk/Høgnorsk and dialect users to a lesser extent. While Modern Norwegian is a linguistic term with a specific historical meaning, contemporary Norwegian also includes the
Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/ mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from th ...
koiné dialect from
Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...
, that evolved into ''Standard Østnorsk'' ( Standard East Norwegian) and the related official written standard ''
Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
''. ''Standard Østnorsk'' is spoken by a large and rapidly growing minority of Norwegians in East Norway, and Bokmål is by far the most widely used written language, even among users of Modern Norwegian dialects.


In contrast to Nynorsk

The Norwegian linguistic term for Modern Norwegian is ''nynorsk'', literally ''New Norwegian''.
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-No ...
is also the name of a Norwegian written standard based on Modern Norwegian dialects, as opposed to
Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
. The terms ''Nynorsk'', ''Modern Norwegian'' and ''Contemporary Norwegian'' are somewhat confusing, because in Norwegian the same term ''Nynorsk'' is used for the first two, while ''Contemporary Norwegian'' could easily be called ''moderne norsk'' (literally ''Modern Norwegian'') in Norwegian.


See also


Language history

*
Old Norse language Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
*
Old Norwegian nn, gamalnorsk , region = Kingdom of Norway (872–1397) , era = 11th–14th century , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = North Germanic , fam4 = West Scandinavian , fam5 ...
*
Middle Norwegian Middle Norwegian (Norwegian Bokmål: ; Norwegian Nynorsk: , ) is a form of the Norwegian language that was spoken from 1350 up to 1550 and was the last phase of Norwegian in its original state, before Danish replaced Norwegian as the official wr ...
*
Dano-Norwegian Dano-Norwegian ( Danish and no, dansk-norsk) was a koiné/ mixed language that evolved among the urban elite in Norwegian cities during the later years of the union between the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536/1537–1814). It is from th ...
*
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 r ...


Orthographies

Dano-Norwegian origin *
Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...
: official written language, based on Dano-Norwegian, but with significant changes. Also known as ''bogmaal'' and ''bogsprog'' until 1899, when the term ''riksmål'' was adopted. Bokmål was re-adopted as the official name in 1929. *
Riksmål (, also , ) is a written Norwegian language form or spelling standard, meaning the ''National Language'', closely related and now almost identical to the dominant form of Bokmål, known as . Both Bokmål and Riksmål evolved from the Danish wri ...
: unofficial, based on Dano-Norwegian, and pre-1938 Bokmål, but with some modernisation since. It is standardised by Norwegian Academy for Language and Literature. It was also the official name of Bokmål from its introduction in 1899 until the
Storting The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years ...
decided to revert to Bokmål in 1929. Norwegian origin *
Høgnorsk Høgnorsk (, ; meaning ''High Norwegian''), is a term for varieties of the Norwegian language from Nynorsk that reject most of the official reforms that have been introduced since the creation of . Høgnorsk typically accepts the initial reforms ...
: unofficial, based on the original Landsmål and pre-1938 Nynorsk. It has no standardising body, but is promoted by Ivar Aasen-sambandet, which hosts a
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 ...
calle
Mållekken
*
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 ...
: the official name of Nynorsk until 1929, sometimes strictly referring to the original orthography developed by
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 ...
. *
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-No ...
: official written language, primary based on the West Norwegian Dialects. It has gone through several reforms and differs significantly from its original form. Norwegian language {{Germanic-lang-stub