Ivar Andreas Aasen was a Norwegian philologist, lexicographer, playwright, and poet. He is best known for having assembled one of the two official written versions of the Norwegian language, Nynorsk, from various dialects.
Ivar Aasen (1881)
Ivar Aasen (1891)
Tomb of Ivar Aasen at Vår Frelsers gravlund, Oslo
Nynorsk is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (Landsmål), parallel to the Dano-Norwegian written standard known as Riksmål. The name Nynorsk was introduced in 1929. After a series of reforms, it is still the written standard closer to Landsmål, whereas Bokmål is closer to Riksmål and Danish.
Ivar Aasen (drawing by Olav Rusti)
The Norwegian romantic nationalism movement sought to identify and celebrate the genuinely Norwegian.