Norway Languages

Norway Language and Languages

Most materials used in Norwegian research are written in Norwegian. Although you do not need to speak or read Norwegian to do research, you do need some knowledge of the language to understand the records. You may also find some Latin words in Norwegian records.

Because Norwegian grammar may affect the way words appear in genealogical records, the words in a dictionary or word list may be slightly different from their appearance in records.

Language Aids
The Family History Library has published a Norwegian-English list of genealogical words. The Norwegian Word List is available at www.FamilySearch.org. Click on "forms" then "Sort by Title" then click on "N". A Norwegian-English dictionary can also aid you in your research. You can find the word list, dictionaries, and similar language aids at many research libraries.

A useful dictionary is:

Cappelens Store Engelsk Norsk Ordbok and Kunnskapsforlaget Aschehoug - Gyldendal's norsk engelsk ordbok by W.A. Kirkeby (Cappelens Large English Norwegian Dictionary and Kunnskapsforlaget Aschehoug - Gyldendal's Norwegian English Dictionary by W.A. Krikeby). Oslo, Norway: J.W. Cappelens Forlag, 1988 and Oslo: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1986.

Another useful dictionary that is also on microfilm is:

Scavenius, H. Gyldendals Ordbøker; Norsk-Engelsk og Engelsk-Norsk (Gyldendal's Dictionaries; Norwegian-English and English-Norwegian), Oslo, Norway: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1945. (FHL film 1,224,705, item 4)

Additional dictionaries can be found in the Place search of the catalog under:


 * NORWAY - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES and in the Subject search of the catalog under:


 * NORWEGIAN - LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES.