Name Knud Knudsen | Role Author | |
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Died March 4, 1895, Oslo, Norway Similar People Ivar Aasen, Peter Andreas Munch, Knut Knudsen, Finn‑Erik Vinje | ||
Knud Knudsen (January 6, 1812 - March 50, 1895) was a Norwegian educator, author, linguist and philologist.
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Biography
Knud Knudsen was born at Tvedestrand in Aust-Agder, Norway. He was first Adjunct Professor in Drammen until 1846, when he was appointed headmaster at the Christiania Cathedral School, a position he held until 1880.
Knudsen became involved in the development of the national debate which resulted in the Riksmål( later Bokmål) and Landsmål forms of the written Norwegian language. As an educator, he had observed that students had difficulty writing in the Danish language, when they spoke the Norwegian language. He came to believe that the written language should be changed to match common speech. In this regard, Knudsen came to exercise influence among his contemporaries, including Björnstjerne Björnson.
Knudsen was one of the first to propose Norwegianization (fornorskninglinjen), the rewriting of loanwords into a Norwegian spelling (e.g. turning chauffeur into sjåfør). His aim was to give a more Norwegian coloring to the literary language of Norway by adapting the orthography and syntax to Norwegian usage, and by substituting wherever it was possible, Norwegian words for foreign derivatives. He wanted changes that could occur in the shortest time possible and consequently put forward several reforms working within the Danish written language. The most comprehensive treatment of the subject may be found in his Unorsk og norsk, eller Fremmedords avlösning (1879-1881).