Bokmål
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Norwegian bokmål (literally “book language”). The equivalent Old Norse bókamál was used in this sense as a name for Latin, as it was the primary language used for writing of biblical work in much of the Middle Ages. The modern Icelandic name for Norwegian Bokmål is bókmál. When dialect research in western Norway was pioneered by Ivar Aasen in the 1850s, bogmaal took on the meaning of written standard language, as opposed to spoken dialects and Aasen's synthesized landsmaal. The two Norwegian languages, standardized in 1907, changed names in 1929 from landsmål to nynorsk, and from riksmål to bokmål.
Proper noun
Bokmål
- One of the two major written standards of Norwegian, literally meaning “book language”.
- 2023 October 5, Philip Oltermann, “Jon Fosse’s Nobel prize announces his overdue arrival on the global stage”, in The Guardian[1], →ISSN:
- While 85-90% of Norwegians today use Bokmål as their written standard, Nynorsk is only used by about 10-15% of the population. Fosse’s English translator Damion Searls says many Nynorsk speakers see him “as a kind of national hero” for his championing of the language.
Synonyms
Translations
language
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See also
References
Further reading
- ISO 639-1 code nb, ISO 639-3 code nob (SIL)
- Ethnologue entry for Bokmål, nob
German
Etymology
Borrowed from Norwegian bokmål (“book language”).
Pronunciation
Proper noun
Bokmål n (proper noun, strong, genitive Bokmål or Bokmåls)
- Bokmål (One of the two major written standards of Norwegian)