125-747: Riksrådet (in Norwegian and Swedish ) or Rigsrådet (in Danish or English: the Council of the Realm and the Council of the State – sometimes translated as the "Privy Council") is the name of the councils of the Scandinavian countries that ruled the countries together with the kings from late Middle Ages to the 17th century. Norway had a Council of the Realm ( Riksrådet ) that was de facto abolished by
250-528: A dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties; some Norwegian and Swedish dialects , in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages , constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are not mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While
375-594: A monopoly over trade with the Faroe Islands and forbade the Faroese from trading with other countries. The trade monopoly in the Faroe Islands was eventually abolished in 1856, after which the area developed into a modern fishing-based economy with its own fishing fleet . In 1846, the Faroe Islands finally regained formal political representation when they were allocated two seats in the Danish Rigsdag ;
500-435: A distinct dialect at the level of farm clusters. Dialects are in some cases so dissimilar as to be unintelligible to unfamiliar listeners. Many linguists note a trend toward regionalization of dialects that diminishes the differences at such local levels; there is, however, a renewed interest in preserving dialects. Norwegian nouns are inflected for number (singular/plural) and for definiteness (indefinite/definite). In
625-548: A few dialects, definite nouns are also inflected for the dative case . Norwegian nouns belong to three noun classes (genders): masculine, feminine and neuter. All feminine nouns can optionally be inflected using masculine noun class morphology in Bokmål due to its Danish heritage. In comparison, the use of all three genders (including the feminine) is mandatory in Nynorsk. All Norwegian dialects have traditionally retained all
750-400: A high, sharply falling pitch in the first syllable and a low pitch in the beginning of the second syllable. In both accents, these pitch movements are followed by a rise of intonational nature (phrase accent)—the size (and presence) of which signals emphasis or focus, and corresponds in function to the normal accent in languages that lack lexical tone , such as English. That rise culminates in
875-539: A majority for parties opposed to independence: following protracted negotiations, Denmark granted home rule to the Faroe Islands on 30 March 1948. This agreement granted the islands a high degree of autonomy, and Faroese finally became the official language in all public spheres. In 1973 the Faroe Islands declined to join Denmark in entering the European Economic Community (EEC); as a result,
1000-501: A noun, unlike English which has a separate article, the , to indicate the same. In general, almost all nouns in Bokmål follow these patterns (like the words in the examples above): In contrast, almost all nouns in Nynorsk follow these patterns (the noun gender system is more pronounced than in Bokmål): There is in general no way to infer what grammatical gender a specific noun has, but there are some patterns of nouns where
1125-509: A number of loanwords from Old Irish. A traditional name for the islands in Irish , Na Scigirí , possibly derives from Eyja-Skeggjar , ("Island-Beards"), a nickname given to island dwellers. According to Færeyinga saga , many of the Norwegian settlers in particular were spurred by their disapproval of the monarchy of Harald Fairhair , whose rule was also seen as an inciting factor for
1250-490: A part of the European Economic Community in 1973, instead keeping autonomy over their own fishing waters; as a result, the Faroe Islands are not a part of the European Union today. The Løgting, albeit suspended between 1816 and 1852, holds a claim as one of the oldest continuously running parliaments in the world. The islands' endonym Føroyar , as well as its English name Faroe Islands (alt. Faeroe or
1375-495: A period of high volcanic activity in the Early Palaeogene around 50–60 million years ago. The islands are built up in layers of different lava flows (basalt) alternating with thin layers of volcanic ash (tuff). The soft ash and the hard basalt thus lie layer upon layer in narrow and thick strips. The soft tuff or ash zones erode away relatively quickly, and the hard lump of basalt above the eroded tuff falls away, forming
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#17327721381581500-601: A political dimension with the advent of the Faroese language conflict in the early 20th century. Both sides of the conflict were represented by the country's first-ever political parties: the Union Party ( Sambandsflokkurin ), founded in 1906, which supported Faroese literature but opposed its usage in education; and the Self-Government party ( Sjálvstýrisflokkurin ), which sought to introduce Faroese as
1625-481: A rebellion against kings who did not keep their promises, a right that was used in 1523. However, in the 16th century, it was not quite unusual that the councillors to some degree identified with the State rejecting too extravagant demands from the Danish gentry . The background of this normally was that they themselves represented the Danish answer to the peerage. The number of councillors was not laid down. Normally it
1750-486: A result of its northerly latitude and proximity to the Arctic Circle , the islands experience perpetual civil twilight during summer nights and very short winter days. The capital and largest city, Tórshavn , receives the fewest recorded hours of sunshine of any city in the world at only 840 per year. While archaeological evidence places the first known habitation as early as the 4th century, Færeyinga Saga and
1875-527: A short distance to the south. Snow also is seen at a much higher frequency than on outlying islands nearby. The area receives on average 49 frosts a year. The collection of meteorological data on the Faroe Islands began in 1867. Winter recording began in 1891, and the warmest winter occurred in 2016–17 with an average temperature of 6.1 °C (43 °F). The Faroes belong to the Faroe Islands boreal grasslands ecoregion. The natural vegetation of
2000-421: A single language, to be called Samnorsk . A 1946 poll showed that this policy was supported by 79% of Norwegians at the time. However, opponents of the official policy still managed to create a massive protest movement against Samnorsk in the 1950s, fighting in particular the use of "radical" forms in Bokmål text books in schools. In the reform in 1959, the 1938 reform was partially reversed in Bokmål, but Nynorsk
2125-428: A single vote. The name Nynorsk , the linguistic term for modern Norwegian , was chosen to contrast with Danish and emphasise the historical connection to Old Norwegian. Today, this meaning is often lost, and it is commonly mistaken as a "new" Norwegian in contrast to the "real" Norwegian Bokmål. Bokmål and Nynorsk were made closer by a reform in 1938. This was a result of a state policy to merge Nynorsk and Bokmål into
2250-590: A spoken language until the 19th century. Following the Napoleonic Wars , the union between Denmark and Norway was dissolved by the Treaty of Kiel in 1814; while Norway was transferred to the Swedish Crown, Denmark retained possession of Norway's North Atlantic territories, which included the Faroe Islands along with Greenland and Iceland. Shortly afterwards, Denmark asserted control and began to restrict
2375-760: A straightforward compound of fær ('sheep') and eyjar ('islands'), meaning "sheep islands", in reference to their abundance on the archipelago. Clergymen Peder Clausson and Lucas Debes began casting doubt on this theory in the 16th and 17th centuries, arguing that the West Norse-speaking settlers, whose word for sheep was sauðr instead of the East Norse fær , could not have coined it from this exact origin. Debes surmised that it could have derived from fjær ('far'), while Hammershaimb leaned towards fara ('to go, to travel'). Others have theorised an Old Irish origin: relating it to
2500-661: A survey sponsored by NATO , the British Museum (Natural History) and the Carlsberg Foundation, is preserved in the Ulster Museum (catalogue numbers: F3195–F3307). It is one of ten exsiccatae sets. A few small plantations consisting of plants collected from similar climates such as Tierra del Fuego in South America and Alaska thrive on the islands. The bird fauna of the Faroe Islands
2625-518: A tropical system. The climate varies greatly over small distances, due to the altitude, ocean currents, topography, and winds. Precipitation varies considerably throughout the archipelago. In some highland areas, snow cover may last for months with snowfalls possible for the greater part of the year (on the highest peaks, summer snowfall is by no means rare), while in some sheltered coastal locations, several years pass without any snowfall whatsoever. Tórshavn receives frosts more often than other areas just
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#17327721381582750-603: A westward ice mass have eroded the intervening mountain range into a narrow ridge. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing country under the external sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Faroese government holds executive power in local government affairs. The head of the government is called the Løgmaður ("Chief Justice") and serves as Prime Minister and head of the Faroese Government. Any other member of
2875-460: A whole, it was the role of the council to rule together with the king, to control him, and to manage the affairs of State well. The councillors were seen as a guarantee towards the nobility (and in theory also towards "the people") that everything was done right. The Council took over the rule in the space that appeared by a succession or at interregna. It led negotiations over the creation of a new haandfæstning , and in theory it also had to call for
3000-502: Is Lítla Dímun . The islands are rugged and rocky with some low peaks; the coasts are mostly cliffs. The highest point is Slættaratindur in northern Eysturoy , 882 metres (2,894 ft) above sea level . The Faroe Islands are made up of an approximately six-kilometres-thick succession of mostly basaltic lava that was part of the great North Atlantic Igneous Province during the Paleogene period. The lavas were erupted during
3125-413: Is Bokmål will study Nynorsk as a mandatory subject throughout both elementary and high school. A 2005 poll indicates that 86.3% use primarily Bokmål as their daily written language, 5.5% use both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and 7.5% use primarily Nynorsk. Thus, 13% are frequently writing Nynorsk, though the majority speak dialects that resemble Nynorsk more closely than Bokmål. Broadly speaking, Nynorsk writing
3250-411: Is a language form based on Norwegian dialects and puristic opposition to Danish. The now-abandoned official policy to merge Bokmål and Nynorsk into one common language called Samnorsk through a series of spelling reforms has created a wide spectrum of varieties of both Bokmål and Nynorsk. The unofficial form known as Riksmål is considered more conservative than Bokmål and is far closer to Danish while
3375-522: Is a local domestic sheep breed, the Faroe sheep (depicted on the coat of arms ), and there once was a variety of feral sheep , which survived on Lítla Dímun until the mid-nineteenth century. Grey seals ( Halichoerus grypus ) are common around the shorelines away from human habitations. Several species of cetacea live in the waters around the Faroe Islands. Best known are the long-finned pilot whales ( Globicephala melaena ), which still are hunted by
3500-466: Is dominated by seabirds and birds attracted to open land such as heather , probably because of the lack of woodland and other suitable habitats. Many species have developed special Faroese sub-species such as the common eider , common starling , Eurasian wren , and black guillemot . The pied raven , a colour morph of the North Atlantic subspecies of the common raven , was endemic to
3625-609: Is regulated by the Norwegian Academy , which determines acceptable spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. There is also an unofficial form of Nynorsk, called Høgnorsk , discarding the post-1917 reforms, and thus close to Ivar Aasen's original Landsmål. It is supported by Ivar Aasen-sambandet , but has found no widespread use. In 2010, 86.5% of the pupils in the primary and lower secondary schools in Norway receive education in Bokmål, while 13.0% receive education in Nynorsk. From
3750-459: Is to write in dialect for informal use. When writing an SMS, Facebook update, or fridge note, many people, especially young ones, write approximations of the way they talk rather than using Bokmål or Nynorsk. There is general agreement that a wide range of differences makes it difficult to estimate the number of different Norwegian dialects. Variations in grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation cut across geographical boundaries and can create
3875-534: Is today to a large extent the same language as Bokmål though somewhat closer to the Danish language. It is regulated by the unofficial Norwegian Academy , which translates the name as 'Standard Norwegian'. The other is Høgnorsk ('High Norwegian'), a more purist form of Nynorsk, which maintains the language in an original form as given by Ivar Aasen and rejects most of the reforms from the 20th century; this form has limited use. Nynorsk and Bokmål provide standards for how to write Norwegian, but not for how to speak
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4000-405: Is uvular [ ʁ ] or [ χ ] . And in the dialects of North-Western Norway, it is realized as [ r ] , much like the trilled ⟨rr⟩ of Spanish. Norwegian is a pitch-accent language with two distinct pitch patterns, like Swedish. They are used to differentiate two-syllable words with otherwise identical pronunciation. For example, in many East Norwegian dialects,
4125-496: Is widespread in western Norway, though not in major urban areas, and also in the upper parts of mountain valleys in the southern and eastern parts of Norway. Examples are Setesdal , the western part of Telemark county ( fylke ) and several municipalities in Hallingdal , Valdres , and Gudbrandsdalen . It is little used elsewhere, but 30–40 years ago, it also had strongholds in many rural parts of Trøndelag (mid-Norway) and
4250-584: The Danehof . The Council consisted of noblemen who were appointed either by the king or their peers on the council. Until the 1536 Reformation , bishops were automatically members. So were the supreme officials (today the "cabinet ministers") while lower ranking "ministers" did not have any formal right to membership. The "backbenchers" of the council took part in daily negotiations of problems and administration, voted, and took on diplomatic tasks. Most of them were squires who also had to look after their lands. As
4375-466: The Dano-Norwegian language that replaced Middle Norwegian as the elite language after the union of Denmark–Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries and then evolved in Norway, while Nynorsk was developed based upon a collective of spoken Norwegian dialects. Norwegian is one of the two official languages in Norway, along with Sámi , a Finno-Ugric language spoken by less than one percent of
4500-614: The Faroes ( Faroese : Føroyar , pronounced [ˈfœɹjaɹ] ; Danish : Færøerne [ˈfeɐ̯ˌøˀɐnə] ), are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark . The official language of the country is Faroese , which is closely related to and partially mutually intelligible with Icelandic . Located a similar distance from Iceland , Norway , and
4625-506: The Folketing . Until 2007, there were seven electoral districts, which were abolished on 25 October of that year in favour of a single nationwide district. Administratively, the islands are divided into 29 municipalities ( kommunur ) within which there are 120 or so settlements . There are also the six traditional s ýslur : Norðoyar , Eysturoy , Streymoy , Vágar , Sandoy , and Suðuroy . While no longer of any legal significance,
4750-587: The Germanic languages evolved, further branching off into the North Germanic languages , of which Norwegian is one. Proto-Norse is thought to have evolved as a northern dialect of Proto-Germanic during the first centuries AD in what is today Southern Sweden. It is the earliest stage of a characteristically North Germanic language, and the language attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions,
4875-577: The Hanseatic League between 1250 and 1450 in the main Scandinavian cities brought large Middle Low German –speaking populations to Norway. The influence of their language on Scandinavian is comparable with that of French on English after the Norman conquest . In the late Middle Ages, dialects began to develop in Scandinavia because the population was rural and little travel occurred. When
5000-476: The Kalmar Union in 1397, and came under de facto Danish rule following that union's dissolution in 1523. Following the introduction of Lutheranism in 1538, the usage of Faroese was banned in churches, schools and state institutions, and disappeared from writing for more than three centuries. The islands were formally ceded to Denmark in 1814 by the Treaty of Kiel along with Greenland and Iceland , and
5125-738: The Løgting was subsequently replaced by a Danish judiciary. Following the re-establishment of the Løgting and an official Faroese orthography , the Faroese language conflict saw Danish being gradually displaced by Faroese as the language of the church, public education and law in the first half of the 20th century. The islands were occupied by the British during the Second World War , who refrained from governing Faroese internal affairs: inspired by this period of relative self-government and
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5250-564: The Reformation came from Germany, Martin Luther 's High German translation of the Bible was quickly translated into Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic. Norway entered a union with Denmark in 1397 and Danish, over time, replaced Middle Norwegian as the language of the elite, the church, literature, and the law. When the union with Denmark ended in 1814, the Dano-Norwegian koiné had become
5375-703: The Settlement of Iceland . The founding date of the Løgting is not historically documented, though the saga implies that it was a well-established institution by the middle of the 10th century, when a legal dispute between chieftains Havgrímur and Einar Suðuroyingur, resulting in the exile of Eldjárn Kambhøttur, is recounted in detail. Christianity was introduced to the islands in the late 10th and early 11th centuries by chieftain Sigmundur Brestisson . Baptised as an adult by then- King of Norway Olaf Tryggvason , his mission to introduce Christianity
5500-595: The United Kingdom , the islands have a total area of about 1,400 square kilometres (540 sq mi) with a population of 54,676 as of August 2023. The terrain is rugged, and the subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc) is windy, wet, cloudy and cool. Despite the northerly climate, the temperatures are moderated by the Gulf Stream and average above freezing throughout the year, hovering around 12 °C (54 °F) in summer and 5 °C (41 °F) in winter. As
5625-529: The declaration of Iceland as a republic in 1944 , the islands held a referendum in 1946 that resulted in a narrow majority for independence. The results were annulled by Christian X , and subsequent negotiations led to the Faroe Islands being granted home rule in 1948. While remaining part of the Kingdom of Denmark to this day, the Faroe Islands have extensive autonomy and control most areas apart from military defence , policing , justice and currency , with partial control over its foreign affairs . Because
5750-598: The 17th century and especially growing economic problems and conservatism of the nobility also weakened the prestige of the council, and the king gradually tried to strengthen his own influence. At the introduction of absolute monarchy in 1660, the council was abolished. The word Rigsråd was revived in Denmark in the 19th century. During 1854–1866 it was used for a special federal council dealing with all common legislative questions of Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein , and from 1863 of Denmark and Schleswig alone. It had hardly anything else in common with its old namesake other than
5875-475: The 20th century, being used by large newspapers, encyclopedias, and a significant proportion of the population of the capital Oslo, surrounding areas, and other urban areas, as well as much of the literary tradition. Since the reforms of 1981 and 2003 (effective in 2005), the official Bokmål can be adapted to be almost identical with modern Riksmål. The differences between written Riksmål and Bokmål are comparable to American and British English differences . Riksmål
6000-644: The Danish king Christian II , the Swedish nobleman Gustav Vasa took over the resistance and successfully restored Swedish sovereignty in 1523. Over the next two centuries the Monarchy and the Riksråd were constant rivals. When Sigismund was crowned in 1594 the Riksråd drafted the Charter of Nyköping which took many of the king's powers. During Queen Christina of Sweden 's reign a large proportion of crown land
6125-544: The Danish-Norwegian king in 1536–1537. In Sweden the parallel Council gradually came under the influence of the king during the 17th century. The members of the Council of Denmark seem to have developed from being councillors of the king to being representatives of the magnates and noblemen. From the 1320s it clearly appears as a force, and from the 1440s it was the permanent opponent of royal power, replacing
6250-587: The Faroe Islands are not part of the same customs area as Denmark, they have an independent trade policy and are able to establish their own trade agreements with other states. The islands have an extensive bilateral free trade agreement with Iceland, known as the Hoyvík Agreement . In the Nordic Council , they are represented as part of the Danish delegation. In certain sports, the Faroe Islands field their own national teams. They did not become
6375-478: The Faroe Islands had a parliament ( Løgting ), which was abolished in 1816, and the Faroe Islands were to be governed as an ordinary Danish amt (county), with the Amtmand as its head of government. In 1851, the Løgting was reinstated, but, until 1948, served mainly as an advisory body. The islands are home to a notable independence movement that has seen an increase in popular support within recent decades. At
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#17327721381586500-517: The Faroe Islands is dominated by arctic-alpine plants, wildflowers, grasses, moss, and lichen. Most of the lowland area is grassland and some is heath, dominated by shrubby heathers, mainly Calluna vulgaris . Among the herbaceous flora that occur in the Faroe Islands is the cosmopolitan marsh thistle, Cirsium palustre . Although it is often asserted that the islands are naturally treeless, several tree species, among them shrubby willows ( salix ), junipers ( juniperus ), and stunted birches, colonized
6625-412: The Faroe Islands, but now has become extinct; the ordinary, all-black morph remains fairly widespread in the archipelago. Only a few species of wild land mammals are found in the Faroe Islands today, all introduced by humans. Three species are thriving on the islands today: mountain hare ( Lepus timidus ), brown rat ( Rattus norvegicus ), and the house mouse ( Mus musculus ). Apart from these, there
6750-528: The Faroe Islands, with cold summers and near-continuous subpolar winds. The following species from Tierra del Fuego , Drimys winteri , Nothofagus antarctica , Nothofagus pumilio , and Nothofagus betuloides , have been successfully introduced to the Faroe Islands. A non-Chilean species that has been introduced is the black cottonwood , also known as the California poplar ( Populus trichocarpa ). A collection of Faroese marine algae resulting from
6875-630: The Faroes ), derive from the Old Norse Færeyjar . The second element oyar ('islands') is a holdover from Old Faroese ; sound changes have rendered the word's modern form as oyggjar . Names for individual islands (such as Kalsoy and Suðuroy ) also preserve the old form. The name's ultimate etymological origin has been subject to dispute. The most widely-held theory, first attested in Færeyinga Saga , interprets it as
7000-603: The Islands fell firmly under Norwegian rule following Tróndur's death in 1035. While the Faroe Islands formally remained a Norwegian possession until 1814, Norway 's merger into the Kalmar Union in 1397 gradually resulted in the islands coming under de facto Danish control. When the Protestant Reformation reached the Faroe Islands in 1538, the Faroese language was also outlawed in schools, churches and official documentation; thus Faroese remained exclusively
7125-410: The Løgting itself was reinstated as an advisory body to the amtmand in 1852. An official Faroese orthography was first introduced in 1846 by Lutheran minister Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb , returning the language to print after 300 years of only existing in oral form. With the return of written Faroese to the public sphere after more than 300 years, nationalism gained a foothold in Faroese society:
7250-455: The Ministry of Culture, official spelling, grammar, and vocabulary for the Norwegian language. The board's work has been subject to considerable controversy throughout the years. Both Nynorsk and Bokmål have a great variety of optional forms. The Bokmål that uses the forms that are close to Riksmål is called moderate or conservative , depending on one's viewpoint, while the Bokmål that uses
7375-502: The Norse, having first learned of the islands from Scottish and Irish accounts as a fearann , could have coined Færeyjar as a phono-semantic match . Archaeological studies from 2021 found evidence of settlement on the islands before the arrival of Norse settlers, uncovering burnt grains of domesticated barley and peat ash deposited in two phases: the first dated between the mid-fourth and mid-sixth centuries, and another between
7500-526: The Norwegian Riksråd gradually diminished. The archbishop of Trondheim mostly acted as the head of the council. As Norway had of old been a hereditary kingdom , the Norwegian Riksråd's task did not, originally include the election of the king, as in Sweden and Denmark. However, as successive kings died without leaving any issue, starting with Olav IV in 1387, it fell to the Riksråd to interpret
7625-641: The Swedish absolutists in 1718 when Charles XII was killed during the Great Northern War . The Privy Council , Riksråd, officially was the ruling body of Sweden until 1974. Norwegian language Norwegian ( endonym : norsk [ˈnɔʂːk] ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway , where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish , Norwegian forms
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#17327721381587750-409: The beginning of time" and previously populated by heremitae ex nostra Scotia (" hermits from our land of Ireland/Scotland") for almost a hundred years before being displaced by the arrival of Norse "pirates". Church argued that these were likely the eremitic Papar that had similarly resided in parts of Iceland and Scotland in the same period. Writers like Brøgger and Peter Andreas Munch had drawn
7875-650: The bishops in Oslo , Hamar , Stavanger , Bergen ), as well as one in the Faroe Islands , two on Iceland , one in Greenland , and one in Orkney (lost to Scotland in 1468). The bishops from the islands rarely participated in the Norwegian Riksråd. In addition, the chaplains of the royal chapels in Oslo and Bergen were permanent members. So were the commanders of the five strongest castles of Norway: Bohus , Akershus in Oslo,
8000-695: The cabinet is called a Minister of the Faroese Government ( landsstýrismaður/ráðharri if male, landsstýriskvinna/ráðfrú if female). The Faroese parliament – the Løgting ("Law Thing ") – dates back to the early days of settlement and claims to be one of the longest functioning parliaments in the world, alongside the Icelandic Althing and the Manx Tynwald . The parliament currently has 33 members. Elections are held at municipal and national levels, additionally electing two members to
8125-463: The castles in Bergen , Tønsberg and Trondheim . The rest of the council was recruited from the Norwegian nobility. Only Norwegians were eligible for these places in the Norwegian Riksråd – however, this was also taken to include foreigners who had married a Norwegian. As several of the bishops and commanders of the castles were foreign – mostly Danish, but also some Swedish – the number of Norwegians in
8250-869: The coast of Northern Europe, between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean , about halfway between Iceland and Norway , the closest neighbours being the Northern Isles and the Outer Hebrides of Scotland . Its coordinates are 62°00′N 06°47′W / 62.000°N 6.783°W / 62.000; -6.783 . Distance from the Faroe Islands to: The islands cover an area of 1,399 square kilometres (540 sq. mi) and have small lakes and rivers, but no major ones. There are 1,117 kilometres (694 mi) of coastline. The only significant uninhabited island
8375-405: The course of volcanism and the age sequence of the layers. There are major differences in the shapes of the islands' terraces. The lowest and oldest series are thick lava deposits that can be seen on the southern part of Suðuroy, Mykines and Tindhólmur and the western side of Vágar. The basalts of the lower basalt series are often pillared, which is shown by elongated, angular and regular pillars in
8500-399: The dialects and comparing the dialects among the different regions. He examined the development of Icelandic , which had largely escaped the influences under which Norwegian had come. He called his work, which was published in several books from 1848 to 1873, Landsmål , meaning 'national language'. The name Landsmål is sometimes interpreted as 'rural language' or 'country language', but this
8625-413: The dialects. The retroflex consonants only appear in East Norwegian dialects as a result of sandhi , combining / ɾ / with / d / , / l / , / n / , / s / , and / t / . The realization of the rhotic / ɾ / depends on the dialect. In Eastern, Central, and Northern Norwegian dialects, it is a flap [ ɾ ] , whereas in Western and Southern Norway, and for some speakers also in Eastern Norway, it
8750-644: The eighth grade onwards, pupils are required to learn both. Out of the 431 municipalities in Norway, 161 have declared that they wish to communicate with the central authorities in Bokmål, 116 (representing 12% of the population) in Nynorsk, while 156 are neutral. Of 4,549 state publications in 2000, 8% were in Nynorsk, and 92% in Bokmål. The large national newspapers ( Aftenposten , Dagbladet , and VG ) are published in Bokmål or Riksmål. Some major regional newspapers (including Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad ), many political journals, and many local newspapers use both Bokmål and Nynorsk. A newer trend
8875-402: The end of World War II , some of the population favoured independence from Denmark, and on 14 September 1946, an independence referendum was held on the question of secession . It was a consultative referendum, the parliament not being bound to follow the people's vote. This was the first time that the Faroese people had been asked whether they favoured independence or wanted to continue within
9000-428: The etymologies of neighbouring Orkney and Shetland , Scottish writers James Currie and William J. Watson suggested respectively the words feur ('pasture, eaten-up outfield') and fearann ('land, territory') as possible derivations, arguing that the original Celtic attestations of the islands made this more likely. Archaeologist Anton Wilhelm Brøgger concurred, elaborating on Watson's theory by positing that
9125-403: The final syllable of an accentual phrase, while the utterance-final fall common in most languages is either very small or absent. There are significant variations in pitch accent between dialects. Thus, in most of western and northern Norway (the so-called high-pitch dialects) accent 1 is falling, while accent 2 is rising in the first syllable and falling in the second syllable or somewhere around
9250-403: The first terrace. Volcanic activity has varied over millions of years, with periods of quiescence and various periods of quiet eruptive fissures and explosive volcanism. In a few places, mainly on Suðuroy, thin layers of coal are present, which are the remains of swamp forests from the time between volcanic eruptions. The plateau has therefore been divided into different basalt series according to
9375-697: The first year of the Second World War , on 12 April 1940, British troops occupied the Faroe Islands in Operation Valentine . Nazi Germany had invaded Denmark and commenced the invasion of Norway on 9 April 1940 under Operation Weserübung . In 1942–1943, the British Royal Engineers , under the command of lieutenant colonel William Law, built the first and only airport in the Faroe Islands, Vágar Airport . The British refrained from governing Faroese internal affairs, and
9500-501: The forms that are close to Nynorsk is called radical . Nynorsk has forms that are close to the original Landsmål and forms that are close to Bokmål. Opponents of the spelling reforms aimed at bringing Bokmål closer to Nynorsk have retained the name Riksmål and employ spelling and grammar that predate the Samnorsk movement. Riksmål and conservative versions of Bokmål have been the de facto standard written language of Norway for most of
9625-526: The gender can be inferred. For instance, all nouns ending in - nad will be masculine in both Bokmål and Nynorsk (for instance the noun jobbsøknad , which means 'job application'). Most nouns ending in - ing will be feminine, like the noun forventning ('expectation'). Faroe Islands in Europe (green and dark grey) in the Kingdom of Denmark (yellow) The Faroe or Faeroe Islands ( / ˈ f ɛər oʊ / FAIR -oh ), or simply
9750-481: The height of the council's power. In the early 16th century, the power of the Norwegian council diminished. The Oldenburg union kings conducted a policy of strengthening their own power at the cost of the nobility, and the Norwegian nobility was too weak to put up a strong opposition. In addition, the few Norwegian noble families became more and more intermarried with the Danish nobility, giving them less of an interest in maintaining separate Norwegian structures. During
9875-459: The heights, often resulting in a characteristic curved landscape shape. This can be clearly seen on Vágar, the northernmost part of Streymoy and the north-western part of Eysturoy. Glacial activity has reduced plateau surfaces, especially on the northern islands, where the surfaces have been reduced to a series of narrower or wider zig-zag rows along the length of the islands: especially on the islands of Kunoy, Kalsoy and Borðoy, where an eastward and
10000-592: The island after the Ice Age, but disappeared later - apparently as a result of grazing impacts, possibly aggravated by a shift to relatively wetter cooler climatic conditions about the same time. A limited number of species have been successfully introduced to the region, in particular trees from the Magellanic subpolar forests region of Chile. Conditions in the Magellanic subpolar forests are similar to those in
10125-457: The islanders in accordance with longstanding local tradition. Orcas ( Orcinus orca ) are regular visitors around the islands. The domestic animals of the Faroe Islands are a result of 1,200 years of isolated breeding. As a result, many of the islands' domestic animals are found nowhere else in the world. Faroese domestic breeds include Faroe pony , Faroe cow , Faroe sheep, Faroese goose , and Faroese duck . The islands were built up during
10250-496: The islands are not part of the European Union (EU) today (although as Danish citizens, Faroe Islanders are still considered EU citizens). Following the collapse of the fishing industry in the early 1990s, the Faroes experienced considerable economic difficulties. The Faroe Islands are an island group consisting of 18 major islands (and a total of 779 islands, islets , and skerries ) about 655 kilometres (407 mi) off
10375-408: The islands became effectively self-governing during the war. After the war ended and the British army left, this period and Iceland 's declaration as a republic in 1944 served as a precedent and a model in the mind of many Faroe Islanders. The Løgting held an independence referendum on 14 September 1946 , resulting in a very narrow majority for independence; 50.73% voted in favour and 49.27% against;
10500-557: The islands refer to the Papar and the Irish, such as Paparøkur near Vestmanna and Papurshílsur near Saksun . Vestmanna is itself short for Vestmannahøvn ("harbour of the Westmen "). Tombstones in a churchyard on Skúvoy display a possible Gaelic origin or influence. Old Norse-speaking settlers arrived in the early 9th century, and their Old West Norse dialect would later evolve into
10625-514: The islands' autonomy. In 1816, the Faroe Islands was reconstituted as a county ( amt ) within the Danish Kingdom : the Løgting , having operated continuously for almost a millennium, was dissolved and replaced by a Danish judiciary, and the post of løgmaður ( lawspeaker ) was likewise replaced by a Danish-appointed amtmand (equivalent to a governor-general). As part of its mercantilist economic policy, Denmark maintained
10750-555: The language. No standard of spoken Norwegian is officially sanctioned, and most Norwegians speak their own dialects in all circumstances. Thus, unlike in many other countries, the use of any Norwegian dialect, whether it coincides with the written norms or not, is accepted as correct spoken Norwegian. However, in areas where East Norwegian dialects are used, a tendency exists to accept a de facto spoken standard for this particular regional dialect, Urban East Norwegian or Standard East Norwegian (Norwegian: Standard østnorsk ), in which
10875-482: The late-sixth and late-eighth centuries. Researchers have also found sheep DNA in lake-bed sediments dating to the year 500. Barley and sheep had to have been brought to the islands by humans; as Scandinavians did not begin using sails until about 750, it is unlikely they could have reached the Faroes before then, leading to the study concluding that the settlers were more likely to originate from Scotland or Ireland. These findings concur with historical accounts from
11000-629: The local population. Around 1030, Christianity came to Scandinavia , bringing with it an influx of Latin borrowings and the Roman alphabet . These new words were related to church practices and ceremonies, although many other loanwords related to general culture also entered the language. The Scandinavian languages at this time are not considered to be separate languages, although there were minor differences among what are customarily called Old Icelandic, Old Norwegian , Old Gutnish , Old Danish, and Old Swedish . The economic and political dominance of
11125-547: The margin was only 161 votes. The Løgting subsequently declared independence on 18 September 1946; this declaration was annulled by Denmark on 20 September, arguing that the number of invalid votes (481) being greater than the narrow margin in favour made the result invalid. As a result, King Christian X of Denmark ordered that the Faroese Løgting be dissolved on 24 September, with new elections held that November. The Faroese parliamentary election of 1946 resulted in
11250-463: The minority of King Magnus VII Eriksson . There do not seem to have been any clear rules for how many members the council should have, or who should be councillors. During the 15th century, the number could be from 30 to 40, whereas after 1500 it was barely above ten. The Norwegian bishops were automatically members. There were at the time five bishops in mainland Norway (the archbishop in Trondheim ,
11375-532: The modern Faroese language . A number of the settlers were Norse–Gaels who did not come directly from Scandinavia, but rather from Norse communities that spanned the Irish Sea , Northern Isles , and Outer Hebrides of Scotland , including the Shetland and Orkney islands; these settlers also brought thralls of Gaelic origin with them, and this admixture is reflected today in the Faroese genetic makeup and
11500-483: The modern Faroese national movement is commonly agreed to have begun with the Christmas Meeting of 1888 , held to "discuss how to defend the Faroese language and Faroese traditions". This meeting led to the rise of two of the movement's most prominent early figures: Jóannes Patursson and Rasmus Effersøe . It was initially exclusively concerned with the status of the Faroese language , but it soon gained
11625-486: The mother tongue of around 1% of the population. From the 1840s, some writers experimented with a Norwegianised Danish by incorporating words that were descriptive of Norwegian scenery and folk life, and adopting a more Norwegian syntax. Knud Knudsen proposed to change spelling and inflection in accordance with the Dano-Norwegian koiné , known as "cultivated everyday speech." A small adjustment in this direction
11750-423: The mountain side. Very regular vertical columns are found on northern Mykines, where they can be up to 30 metres (100 ft) high. The middle basalt series consists of thin lava flows with a highly porous interlayer. This series has very little resistance to crumbling and weathering. As these erosion processes are more severe at higher altitudes than lower down, the lowlands are filled with weathering material from
11875-731: The mountains, although some coastal or low-lying areas may have very mild-winter versions of a tundra climate. The overall character of the climate of the islands is influenced by the strong warming influence of the Atlantic Ocean, which produces the North Atlantic Current . This, together with the remoteness of any source of landmass-induced warm or cold airflows, ensures that winters are mild (mean temperature 3.0 to 4.0 °C or 37 to 39 °F) while summers are cool (mean temperature 9.5 to 10.5 °C or 49 to 51 °F). The islands are windy, cloudy, and cool throughout
12000-520: The official language in all public spheres and additionally demanded increased political autonomy for the islands. The Faroese language gradually won out; laws and protocols of the Løgting were written in Faroese from 1927 onwards, schools switched to Faroese as the language of instruction in 1938, and Faroese was fully authorised as the language of the Church the following year. Finally in 1944, Faroese gained equal status with Danish in legal proceedings. In
12125-417: The oldest form of the runic alphabets . A number of inscriptions are memorials to the dead, while others are magical in content. The oldest are carved on loose objects, while later ones are chiseled in runestones . They are the oldest written record of any Germanic language. East Germanic languages West Germanic languages Icelandic Faroese Norwegian Danish Swedish Around 800 AD,
12250-520: The opening of the North Atlantic ocean , which began about 60 million years ago, and what is today the Faroe Islands was then attached to Greenland. The lavas are underlain by circa 30 km of unidentified ancient continental crust. The climate is classed as subpolar oceanic climate according to the Köppen climate classification : Cfc , with areas having a tundra climate, especially in
12375-747: The population. Norwegian is one of the working languages of the Nordic Council . Under the Nordic Language Convention , citizens of the Nordic countries who speak Norwegian have the opportunity to use it when interacting with official bodies in other Nordic countries without being liable for any interpretation or translation costs. Like most of the languages in Europe, Norwegian derives from Proto-Indo-European . As early Indo-Europeans spread across Europe, they became isolated from each other and new languages developed. In northwest Europe,
12500-442: The principles of Norwegian orthography, e.g. zebra in Norwegian is written sebra . Due to historical reasons, some otherwise Norwegian family names are also written using these letters. Some letters may be modified by diacritics : é , è , ê , ó , ò , and ô . In Nynorsk, ì and ù and ỳ are occasionally seen as well. The diacritics are not compulsory, but may in a few cases distinguish between different meanings of
12625-420: The same connections from Dicuil's writings, with the latter arguing that these Papar were also the ones to bring sheep to the islands. A ninth-century voyage tale concerning Irish saint Brendan , one of Dicuil's contemporaries, details him visiting an unnamed northern group of islands; this has also been argued to be referring to the Faroe Islands, though not nearly as conclusively. A number of toponyms around
12750-413: The same period: archaeologist Mike Church noted that Irish monk Dicuil described a group of islands north of Scotland of very similar character to the Faroe Islands in his work De mensura orbis terrae ("Of the measure of the worlds of the earth"). In this text, Dicuil describes "a group of small islands (...) Nearly all of them (...) separated by narrow stretches of water" that were "always deserted since
12875-635: The script was simplified to the Younger Futhark , and inscriptions became more abundant. At the same time, the beginning of the Viking Age led to the spread of Old Norse to Iceland , Greenland , and the Faroe Islands . Viking colonies also existed in parts of the British Isles , France ( Normandy ), North America, and Kievan Rus . In all of these places except Iceland and the Faroes, Old Norse speakers went extinct or were absorbed into
13000-606: The southern part of northern Norway ( Nordland county). Today, Nynorsk is the official language of not only four of the nineteen Norwegian counties but also various municipalities in five other counties. NRK , the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, broadcasts in both Bokmål and Nynorsk, and all governmental agencies are required to support both written languages. Bokmål is used in 92% of all written publications, and Nynorsk in 8% (2000). Like some other European countries, Norway has an official "advisory board"— Språkrådet (Norwegian Language Council)— that determines, after approval from
13125-425: The succession laws. This it did so freely that Norway more and more became, in reality, an elected monarchy, like its Nordic neighbours. This was formally affirmed in 1450, when Christian I of Denmark took the Norwegian throne as an elected monarch. On his death, in 1481, the Riksråd ruled the country for two years, in an interregnum , before electing Christian's son as the new king – a period which could be seen as
13250-610: The syllable boundary. The pitch accents (as well as the peculiar phrase accent in the low-tone dialects) give the Norwegian language a "singing" quality that makes it easy to distinguish from other languages. Accent 1 generally occurs in words that were monosyllabic in Old Norse , and accent 2 in words that were polysyllabic. The Norwegian alphabet has 29 letters. The letters c , q , w , x and z are only used in loanwords . As loanwords are assimilated into Norwegian, their spelling might change to reflect Norwegian pronunciation and
13375-579: The term is still commonly used to indicate a geographical region. In earlier times, each sýsla had its own assembly , the so-called várting ("spring assembly"). The Faroe Islands have been under Norwegian-Danish control since 1388. The 1814 Treaty of Kiel terminated the Danish–Norwegian union, and Norway came under the rule of the King of Sweden , while the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland remained Danish possessions. From ancient times
13500-401: The three grammatical genders from Old Norse to some extent. The only exceptions are the dialect of Bergen and a few upper class sociolects at the west end of Oslo that have completely lost the feminine gender. According to Marit Westergaard , approximately 80% of nouns in Norwegian are masculine. Norwegian and other Scandinavian languages use a suffix to indicate definiteness of
13625-564: The title. (The world's first use of the Single transferable vote in an election of legisators was seen in the 1855 Rigsrad election.) [1] The loss of Schleswig in 1864 made the Rigsrad redundant, and it was abolished by the new constitution two years later. The Norwegian Riksråd gradually emerged around 1300, evolving from the King's council. It emerged clearly as a power factor after 1319, during
13750-480: The troubled transition to the reign of King Christian III , the Norwegian archbishop Olav Engelbrektsson led a rebellion in support of Christian's rival to the throne. After Christian had won, the Norwegian Riksråd was de facto abolished, in 1536–1537. The archbishop went into exile, the Protestant reformation was carried through in Denmark and Norway, and the Norwegian Riksråd never assembled again. The Riksråd
13875-475: The two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Age . Today there are two official forms of written Norwegian, Bokmål (Riksmål) and Nynorsk (Landsmål), each with its own variants. Bokmål developed from
14000-426: The unofficial Høgnorsk is more conservative than Nynorsk and is far closer to Faroese , Icelandic and Old Norse . Norwegians are educated in both Bokmål and Nynorsk. Each student gets assigned a native form based on which school they go to, whence the other form (known as Sidemål ) will be a mandatory school subject from elementary school through high school. For instance, a Norwegian whose main language form
14125-447: The vocabulary coincides with Bokmål. Outside Eastern Norway , this spoken variation is not used. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway. As a result, the development of modern written Norwegian has been subject to strong controversy related to nationalism , rural versus urban discourse, and Norway's literary history. Historically, Bokmål is a Norwegianised variety of Danish, while Nynorsk
14250-427: The word bønder ('farmers') is pronounced using the simpler tone 1, while bønner ('beans' or 'prayers') uses the more complex tone 2. Though spelling differences occasionally differentiate written words, in most cases the minimal pairs are written alike, since written Norwegian has no explicit accent marks. In most eastern low-tone dialects, accent 1 uses a low flat pitch in the first syllable, while accent 2 uses
14375-568: The word, e.g.: for ('for/to'), fór ('went'), fòr ('furrow') and fôr ('fodder'). Loanwords may be spelled with other diacritics, most notably ï, ü , á and à . The two legally recognized forms of written Norwegian are Bokmål (literally 'book tongue') and Nynorsk ('new Norwegian'), which are regulated by the Language Council of Norway ( Språkrådet ). Two other written forms without official status also exist. One, called Riksmål ('national language'),
14500-466: The writings of Dicuil place initial Norse settlement in the early 9th century. As with the subsequent Settlement of Iceland , the islands were mainly settled by Norwegians and Norse-Gaels , who additionally brought thralls (i.e. slaves or serfs ) of Gaelic origin. Following the introduction of Christianity by Sigmundur Brestisson , the islands came under Norwegian rule in the early 11th century. The Faroe Islands followed Norway's integration into
14625-400: The year with an average of 210 rainy or snowy days per year. The islands lie in the path of depressions moving northeast, making strong winds and heavy rain possible at all times of the year. Sunny days are rare and overcast days are common. Hurricane Faith struck the Faroe Islands on 5 September 1966 with sustained winds over 100 mph (160 km/h) and only then did the storm cease to be
14750-433: Was about 20, but from time to time deaths might reduce their number wherefore it was supplied by mass creations. Not until 1648 was the number of councillors finally fixed to 23. The authority of the council was indisputable, and within some limits the kings also tried to co-operate. However most of the kings neglected some of the rules and, for instance, foreign questions presented many loopholes. The many military defeats of
14875-456: Was alienated (given to nobles) which led to major financial instability in Sweden. King Charles XI was Sweden's first absolute monarch who led an immense ' reduction ' policy (the retrieval of land from the nobility). In 1654 1.5% of land was the Crown's and 72% belonged to the nobility. By 1700, 35.5% of land belonged to the Crown and 33% belonged to the nobility. This continued until the end of
15000-451: Was changed further towards Bokmål. Since then Bokmål has reverted even further toward traditional Riksmål, while Nynorsk still adheres to the 1959 standard. Therefore, a small minority of Nynorsk enthusiasts use a more conservative standard called Høgnorsk . The Samnorsk policy had little influence after 1960, and was officially abandoned in 2002. While the sound systems of Norwegian and Swedish are similar, considerable variation exists among
15125-480: Was clearly not Aasen's intended meaning. The name of the Danish language in Norway was a topic of hot dispute throughout the 19th century. Its proponents claimed that it was a language common to Norway and Denmark, and no more Danish than Norwegian. The proponents of Landsmål thought that the Danish character of the language should not be concealed. In 1899, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson proposed the neutral name Riksmål , meaning 'national language' like Landsmål , and this
15250-453: Was implemented in the first official reform of the Danish language in Norway in 1862 and more extensively after his death in two official reforms in 1907 and 1917. Meanwhile, a nationalistic movement strove for the development of a new written Norwegian. Ivar Aasen , a botanist and self-taught linguist, began his work to create a new Norwegian language at the age of 22. He traveled around the country collecting words and examples of grammar from
15375-641: Was officially adopted along with the 1907 spelling reform. The name Riksmål is sometimes interpreted as 'state language', but this meaning is secondary at best. (Compare to Danish rigsmål from where the name was borrowed.) After the personal union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905, both languages were developed further and reached what is now considered their classic forms after a reform in 1917. Riksmål was, in 1929, officially renamed Bokmål (literally 'book language'), and Landsmål to Nynorsk (literally 'new Norwegian'). A proposition to substitute Danish-Norwegian ( dansk-norsk ) for Bokmål lost in parliament by
15500-577: Was part of a greater plan to seize the islands on behalf of the Norwegian crown. While Christianity arrived at the same time as in Iceland , the process was met with much more conflict and violence, and was defined particularly by Sigmundur's conflict with rival chieftain Tróndur í Gøtu , the latter of whom was converted under threat of decapitation. Although their conflict resulted in Sigmundur's murder,
15625-612: Was the upper parliamentary house in Sweden populated by the nobility. The Swedish nobility often played a prominent role in Swedish history, which both helped and hindered the nation. Sten Sture of the Riksråd led the resistance against the Danish-dominated Union of Kalmar until he was killed in battle in the beginning of 1520. After the Stockholm bloodbath in November 1520, when around 90 nobles were executed by
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