The focus in this article is a comparison between two linguists in the 19th century, the Italian A. Manzoni (1785-1873) and the Dane N.M. Petersen (1791-1862). They both understand language as a social issue and both use the school system as a means in their language policy. Nonetheless their conclusions differ in many ways. The article treats their language theories and language-planning proposals.
It is concluded: a) that Manzoni and Petersen diverge in three dimensions. Manzoni has a synchronic approach, focuses on spoken language and argues for a centralized anti-Koine solution, i.e. modern Florentine as the Italian standard language, while Petersen has a historical, diachronic approach, focuses on written language and argues for a Koine, i.e. a Nordic common language, b) that the national premises for their language policies are very different, c) that the comparative perspective sheds new light on the language discussions in the two countries.