Northern Sami was and is used in three countries, each of which used its own orthography for years. Friis' orthography was used when work on translating the Bible into Northern Sami commenced, in the first Sami newspaper called "Saǥai Muittalægje", and in the Finnemisjonen's own newspaper "Nuorttanaste". The groundwork for Northern Sami lexicography was laid by Konrad Nielsen who used an orthography of his own creation in his dictionary "Lappisk ordbok". Starting in 1948, the orthographies used in Norway and Sweden were combined into a single "Bergsland-Ruong orthography". It was not greatly used in Norway. In 1979, an official orthography for Northern Sami was adopted for use in Norway, Sweden and Finland.