The history of the Norwegian language is deeply intertwined with the country’s political and cultural shifts. Norwegian originated from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings, which was spoken across Scandinavia during the early Middle Ages. After Norway entered a union with Denmark in the 14th century, Danish became the dominant written language in the region, overshadowing Norwegian. This Danish influence persisted for over 400 years, resulting in Norwegian being largely spoken, while written forms were predominantly in Danish. The separation of Denmark and Norway in 1814 and the subsequent union with Sweden led to a movement to reclaim and standardize a distinctly Norwegian language.

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In the 19th century, as Norway moved toward independence, linguists and nationalists began pushing for the revival of Norwegian as a separate written language. This resulted in the creation of two primary written standards: Bokmål, derived from the Danish-influenced written language, and Nynorsk, which was based on rural dialects. The development of these two standards sparked debates about linguistic identity, with Bokmål being more widely used due to its historical connection with Danish. Nynorsk, however, was promoted by those seeking a closer connection to Norway's rural and folk traditions. Today, both Bokmål and Nynorsk are official languages in Norway, although Bokmål remains more dominant. The Harry Potter books are written in Bokmål.