The Reformation and the Linguistic Situation in Norway

Endre Mørck

doi:10.7557/13.4903

Abstract

The article gives a short account of the development of the spoken language from Old Norwegian to Modern Norwegian, the transition from Norwegian to Danish as the written language in Norway and the language of the church around the Reformation. It is argued that the changes in the spoken language were a long-term development completed, on the whole, at the time of the Reformation, that the transition from Norwegian to Danish as the written language was also well on the way before the Reformation, and that the vernacular was not abruptly introduced in the Lutheran service. So, the linguistic situation in the centuries following the Reformation is only to a lesser degree a result of the Reformation itself. The Reformation should first and foremost be credited with the translation of the Bible into Danish and with it the consolidation of a modern form of Danish which was spread through the extensive religious literature of the time. Later this consolidated written language formed the basis for the development of a higher variety of spoken Norwegian.

Highlights

The Reformation is often used as a demarcation point in the history of the Norwegian language
The extended contact with this written Danish in the Bible and in other types of literature contributed to the development of a higher spoken variety. To take another perspective on the situation in Norway after the Reformation, we may focus on what we did not get, namely a modern written standard based on spoken Norwegian
The vernacular was already used in the Catholic mass and not abruptly introduced in the Lutheran service

Summary

Introduction

The Reformation is often used as a demarcation point in the history of the Norwegian language. The extended contact with this written Danish in the Bible and in other types of literature contributed to the development of a higher spoken variety To take another perspective on the situation in Norway after the Reformation, we may focus on what we did not get, namely a modern written standard based on spoken Norwegian. In addition to what has already been said about the effect of the for its time modern Danish norm in the new translation of the Bible, the increased spreading of religious literature in Danish, and the later development of a higher variety based on written Danish, the influence of Danish through the reformed service has been noted (Skard 1972, 13). According to Hareide (2014, 51), there was a gradual transition from the Catholic Latin mass with its focus on the Eucharist to the Lutheran vernacular service with more focus on the sermon and hymns. Bull (2018, 39) may be right that later propaganda for the Reformation wanted to make the break with the past look more complete than it really was

Conclusion

Trondheim

16. Trondheim