Landsmål

proper noun

A written standard for Norwegian created by Ivar Aasen in the mid-1800s; predecessor to Nynorsk.

Meanings

proper noun

alternative Landsmaal

  1. A written standard for Norwegian created by Ivar Aasen in the mid-1800s; predecessor to Nynorsk.

    In 1885, Landsmål won official recognition from the government; in 1929 it was renamed Nynorsk ("new Norwegian").

    2000, Frankie B. Shackelford, transl., Ave Eva: A Norwegian Tragedy, Xenos Books, translation of Ave Eva: Herregårdsroman by Edvard Hoem, page viii
    2 more examples

    Political parties had to tailor their programmes according to the taste of the electorate on the basis of the Riksmål/Landsmål controversy.

    2000, Gyula Décsy, The Linguistic Identity of Europe: The 62 Languages of Europe Classified in Functional Zones, Eurolingua, →ISBN, page 84

    Diphthongs were allowed as options in many words, often rendering them identical to the Landsmål forms but deviating from upper-middle-class speech: ben > bein ‘bone, leg’ (Landsmål: bein), løv > lauv ‘leaf’ (Landsmål: lauv). In Riksmål with optional forms, many other frequently-used words were also altered from forms which reflected upper-middle-class speech to those which were identical with Landsmål:[…]

    2014, Ernst Håkon Jahr, “Two Norwegian written standards: is linguistic reconciliation possible? Early twentieth century up to the 1917 language reforms”, in Language Planning as a Sociolinguistic Experiment: The Case of Modern Norwegian, Edinburgh University Press, →ISBN, section “The language reform of 1917”, subsection “Concrete changes to Riksmål”, page 93

Origin

  1. Norwegianlandsmål
  2. EnglishLandsmål

From Norwegian landsmål (Bokmål entry; Nynorsk entry); called so by Ivar Aasen.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Norwegian Bokmål landsmål
  • landsmålwritten standard for Norwegian
Polish landsmål
  • landsmålwritten standard for Norwegian
Cite this entry
APA

Landsmål. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landsm%C3%A5l

MLA

“Landsmål.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landsm%C3%A5l. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Landsmål,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Landsm%C3%A5l.

Source: Landsmål on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.