Editing Norwegian language (section)

===Danish to Norwegian standardisation===
{{Main|Norwegian language conflict}}
{{unreferenced section|date=July 2016}}
From the 1840s, some writers experimented with a Norwegianised form of written Danish. [[Knud Knudsen (linguist)|Knud Knudsen]] proposed to change spelling and inflection in accordance with the Dano-Norwegian ''koiné'', known as "cultivated everyday speech." A small adjustment in this direction was implemented in the first official reform of the Danish language in Norway in 1862 and more extensively after his death in two official reforms in 1907 and 1917.

Meanwhile, a nationalistic movement strove for the development of a new written Norwegian. [[Ivar Aasen]], a botanist and self-taught linguist, began his work to create a new Norwegian language at the age of 22. He traveled around the country collecting words and examples of grammar from the dialects and comparing the dialects among the different regions. He examined the development of [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], which had largely escaped the influences under which Norwegian had come. He called his work, which was published in several books from 1848 to 1873, [[Landsmål]], meaning 'national language'. The name ''Landsmål'' is sometimes interpreted as 'rural language' or 'country language', but this was clearly not Aasen's intended meaning.

The name of the Danish language in Norway was a topic of hot dispute throughout the 19th century. Its proponents claimed that it was a language common to Norway and Denmark, and no more Danish than Norwegian. The proponents of Landsmål thought that the Danish character of the language should not be concealed. In 1899, [[Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson]] proposed the neutral name ''[[Riksmål]]'', meaning 'national language' like ''Landsmål'', and this was officially adopted along with the 1907 spelling reform. The name ''Riksmål'' is sometimes interpreted as 'state language', but this meaning is secondary at best. (Compare to [[Danish language|Danish ''rigsmål'']] from where the name was borrowed.)

After the personal union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, both languages were developed further and reached what is now considered their classic forms after a reform in 1917. Riksmål was, in 1929, officially renamed ''Bokmål'' (literally 'book language'), and Landsmål to ''Nynorsk'' (literally 'new Norwegian'). A proposition to substitute Danish-Norwegian ({{Lang|no|dansk-norsk}}) for ''Bokmål'' lost in parliament by a single vote.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Norwegian Translation. Danish to Norwegian |url=https://www.translation-services-usa.com/norwegian_danish.php |access-date=28 July 2024 |website=www.translation-services-usa.com}}</ref> The name ''Nynorsk'', the linguistic term for [[modern Norwegian]], was chosen to contrast with Danish and emphasise the historical connection to Old Norwegian. Today, this meaning is often lost, and it is commonly mistaken as a "new" Norwegian in contrast to the "real" Norwegian Bokmål.

Bokmål and Nynorsk were made closer by a reform in 1938. This was a result of a state policy to merge Nynorsk and Bokmål into a single language, to be called ''Samnorsk''. A 1946 poll showed that this policy was supported by 79% of Norwegians at the time. However, opponents of the official policy still managed to create a massive protest movement against ''Samnorsk'' in the 1950s, fighting in particular the use of "radical" forms in Bokmål text books in schools. In the reform in 1959, the 1938 reform was partially reversed in Bokmål, but Nynorsk was changed further towards Bokmål. Since then Bokmål has reverted even further toward traditional Riksmål, while Nynorsk still adheres to the 1959 standard. Therefore, a small minority of Nynorsk enthusiasts use a more conservative standard called [[Høgnorsk]]. The Samnorsk policy had little influence after 1960, and was officially abandoned in 2002.