1901-rettskrivinga, midlandsmakselen og riksstyremålet

The Norwegian Ministry of Church and Education decided on a new orthography for the Norwegian language in 1901. There are some common misconceptions about this decision in the scholarly literature on the history of the Norwegian language, and this article aims to correct these misconceptions. Contrary to common belief, the orthography of 1901 was not the first official orthography for Norwegian. Instead, the first official orthography for Norwegian was declared by the Ministry in 1893. Next, the Ministry did not mandate that the central administration had to follow the new orthography, nor did it allow school children to follow an alternative orthography (the “Midland norm”). Although the orthography of 1901 is commonly known as the “Hægstad norm”, it does not follow Prof. Marius Hægstad’s proposal in every respect. There is also nothing to indicate that the publishing house Det norske samlaget took the initiative for orthographic reform, despite this being a common claim.