Making Old Norse new: Nynorsk Saga translations as a tool for corpus planning from 1853 to 1917

Abstract

This thesis investigates the role Nynorsk translations of Old Norse literature played in the development of the Nynorsk language, particularly its lexicon. In the early period of the Nynorsk language (1853-1917), a significant number of Nynorsk translations of Old Norse literature was produced by a variety of prominent proponents of Nynorsk. Most prominent among them was Ivar Aasen and his translation of Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna in 1858, as this study will demonstrate.

Through an interdisciplinary approach, the relationship between Nynorsk translation history and Nynorsk language history is explored in order to determine the role translational work played in the development of the Nynorsk lexicon, not only between 1853 and 1917, but also up until today.

Furthermore, this thesis examines how Nynorsk saga translations were used as a tool for corpus planning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is somewhat hard to fathom that translational work is often overlooked in discussions connecting languages and corpus planning in the Norwegian context considering the amount of translational activity that often occurs as a result of such ideas.

Thus, this thesis attempts to bring this translational work to the fore in discussions of Nynorsk language history. Additionally, through an innovative case study containing an in-depth comparative analysis of the four Nynorsk translations of Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna, this thesis interprets trends and contrasts in the development of the Nynorsk lexicon from 1858 to 2013.