Norwegian language: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	Norsk

Photos

Thematic map of Europe displaying the distribution of Germanic languages, with different colors indicating regions where English, German, Netherlandic (Dutch), Frisian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese are spoken. Striped areas mark regions where bilingualism is common, and language regions cover countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, and parts of surrounding countries.

A family tree diagram shows the evolution of Germanic languages from Proto-Germanic, branching into West, North, and East Germanic groups. West Germanic splits into Anglo-Frisian (English, Frisian) and Netherlandic-German (Netherlandic, German). North Germanic divides into West Scandinavian (Icelandic, Faroese, Norwegian) and East Scandinavian (Danish, Swedish). East Germanic is represented by Gothic.

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Topics

Dano-Norwegian language Old Norwegian language New Norwegian language Samnorsk Bokmål Norwegian literature Scandinavian languages Faroese language Old Norse language Swedish language Danish language Icelandic language

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Key People

Edmund Gosse, detail of an oil painting by John Singer Sargent, 1886; in the National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Edmund Gosse

British critic and writer

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Christian Morgenstern

German poet

Archer, William

William Archer

British critic

Assen, Ivar

Ivar Aasen

Norwegian scholar

Buddhist engravings on wall in Thailand. Hands on wall. Hompepage blog 2009, history and society, science and technology, geography and travel, explore discovery

Languages & Alphabets

Hand with pencil writing on page. (handwriting; write)

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