BIBLE IN LANDSMÅL AS CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL PHENOMENON

Abstract

The article discusses the prerequisites for creating translations of the Bible into Norwegian and the history of its first translation into landsmål. The authors describe the evolution of the Bible translation and incorporation in the translation of Norwegian words and expressions, and show the influence of society in changing the biblical text. Particular attention is given to the impact of the Bible translation on the spread of New Norwegian as a cultural language in present-day Norway. The paper compares excerpts from translations of the Gospel of Mark into Norwegian riksmål (1904) and landsmål (1921) language varieties. The authors demonstrate the difference between formal and functional equivalence approaches to translating biblical texts and show that translators into landsmål, while trying to stick to the original source, considered it much more important to convey the poetry of the biblical language and to make it understandable to recipients. In conclusion, it is noted that Norwegian society accepted the new translation of the Bible, which in turn opened the way for the acceptance of nynorsk (the New Norwegian) as the language of the church.