Utgivelsen

Utgivelsen is a Norwegian term that refers to the act of issuing, publishing, or making something available to the public, as well as the result of that act—in particular an edition, issue, or release. The definite form utgivelsen is used when speaking about a specific published work or a particular release, such as the publication of a book, a magazine issue, a music album, a film, or a software release.

Etymology and usage notes

The word comes from the verb utgi, meaning to issue or publish. The suffix -else forms nouns that express a process or product resulting from the action. In Bokmål (and commonly in Norwegian usage), utgivelsen can denote both the process of publishing and the published product. In practice, it appears in compound terms such as utgivelsesdato (release date), utgivelsesplan (release schedule), and utgivelsen av en bok or en filmutgivelse.

Contexts and examples

Utgivelsen is widely used across publishing, media, and software industries. For books, it refers to the publication and distribution process as well as the published edition. For music and film, it covers the release to the market. In software, utgivelse often aligns with versions or builds made available to users. The term can also appear in administrative or governmental contexts, where it denotes the formal issue of documents or bulletins.

Relation to related terms

Utgivelsen is related but not identical to publisering (publication/publication process) and lansering (launch or market introduction). Publisering emphasizes making content publicly available, while lansering stresses market introduction or promotion. Offentliggjøring is another related concept focusing on making information public.

See also: publisering, lansering, utgivelsesdato, utgivelsesplan.