The origins of Dano-Norwegian (Bokmål)

I was recently asked by a client to provide a “Dano-Norwegian” medical translation. Since I had never worked with this dialect/language before, this led me on a quest for information and of course, a new blog entry.

Norway has two official written languages, Bokmål (Dano-Norwegian) and Nynorsk (New Norwegian). According to my research, they are given equal status and are both used in public administration, in education and on TV/radio. Books, magazines and newspapers are published in both languages.

Dano-Norwegian is an official literary form of Norwegian based on written Danish. In other words, it is a Norwegian variant of the Danish language and predecessor of the Bokmål written standard of the modern Norwegian language. It is a form of Danish with Norwegian pronounciation and minor local differences. It is what is called a koiné language (this is a language/dialect that occurs or is created due to contact between two dialects of the same language). “A koiné variety emerges as a new spoken variety in addition to the originating dialects; it does not change any existing dialect. This separates koineization from normal evolution of dialects.”

Up until the 13^th century, the language spoken in Norway was "Old Norwegian".  In 1380, Norway entered into a union with Denmark. By the early 1600s, the United Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway (1536-1814) was formed. This koiné language evolved during this time. The official language of the time was Danish. The urban elite in Norway spoke Dano-Norwegian. In 1814, the two countries separated. At that time, Dano-Norwegian was still the official language of Norway.

During the 20^th century, a new approach was taken with written Norwegian to reflect the urban and rural jargon of that country. The first Norwegian successor to Dano-Norwegian was known as Riksmål (literally "national language"). Since 1929, this official written standard has been known as Bokmål (literally "book language”). According to my research, Riksmål officially changed its name to Bokmål after a proposition to use the name Dano-Norwegian lost with a single vote in the Lagting (a chamber in the Norwegian parliament). Later attempts to bring it closer to and eventually merge it with the other Norwegian written standard, Nynorsk (literally “new Norwegian”), constructed on the basis of Norwegian dialects, have failed due to widespread resistance.

In The Phonology of Norwegian, Gjert Kristoffersen writes that:

"Bokmål [...] is in its most common variety looked upon as reflecting formal middle-class urban speech, especially that found in the eastern part of Southern Norway, with the capital Oslo as the obvious centre. One can therefore say that Bokmål has a spoken realisation that one might call an unofficial standard spoken Norwegian. It is in fact often referred to as Standard Østnorsk ('Standard East Norwegian')."

While researching, I happened to find some interesting Dano-Norwegian facts:

-The famous Ibsen works, “A Doll’s House”, “Hedda Gabler”, “An Enemy of the People” among others were originally written in Dano—Norwegian. 

-The Norwegian National Anthem (“Ja, vi elsker dette landet”) was originally written in Dano-Norwegian as that was frequently used in Norway at the time. A more modern version has evolved over the years.