Modern Swedish

Modern Swedish () is the linguistic term used for the Swedish language from the Bible translation of 1526 to the development of a common national language around 1880. The period can further be divided into Early Modern Swedish (1526–1750) and Late Modern Swedish (1750–1880).

Early Modern Swedish

Bible

Early Modern Swedish was established in 1526 with a complete Swedish translation of the Bible. The translation followed the spoken word rather closely, as opposed to the more Latin-inspired way of writing commonly used in the Middle Ages.

The Vasa Bible is considered <!--might need a footnote referring to Pettersson here--> to be a reasonable compromise between old and new; while not adhering to the spoken language of its day it was not overly conservative in its use of old forms. Though it was not completely consistent in spelling, particularly when it came to vowels, it was a major step towards a more consistent Swedish orthography. It established the use of the letters "ä" and "ö" in place of the older "æ" and "ø" and introduced the completely new "å" in place of "o" in many words. It also introduced conventions such as using ck instead of kk in words like tacka; "thank". The ongoing rivalry with Denmark can be argued to have some influence on the new translation, with infinitive suffixes like -a being favored of the more Danish -e. While the influence of individual translators should...
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