Willard Fiske

“ NORWAY, Language and Literature of. The Norræna mâl, or northern language, now represented, with slight inflectional and orthographical variations, by the Icelandic, was the common language of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden from an unknown period to the 11th century. (See Iceland, Language and Literature of.) Norway retained the old tongue longer than either of the other kingdoms. The few mediæval Norwegian documents do not exhibit any important grammatical changes until about the time of the annexation of Norway to Denmark toward the close of the 14th century. ”

“ From these dialects some philologists have attempted to construct a national tongue, and the efforts of several poets and story writers have made the movement partially successful. But still the Danish, with only dialectic differences, is the language of society, of the press, and of the pulpit, and is taught in the schools. The Norwegian dialects may be classified in three divisions, corresponding to the natural divisions of the country: the Nordenfjeld group, comprising those spoken in Drontheim and the extreme northern provinces ”

“ Outside of the large towns and among the peasants, however, the Danish has never been the spoken tongue, but the old Norræna has been corrupted into a number of dialects, diverging more or less in their structure from their ancient original. ”