Henry Henne (21 October 1918 – 29 June 2002) was a Norwegian linguist. Henne was born in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

, and grew up in

Solheimsviken Solheimsviken is a bay and a neighbourhood in the city of Bergen in Vestland county, Norway. The bay is situated at the end of the Damsgårdssundet strait, near the large Store Lungegårdsvann bay. Located near the city centre of Bergen, Solheim ...

, as a son of Halvar Henne (1894–1965) and Marie Bjørkly (1884–1959). He was married twice, the second time to an American citizen. Henne

finished Finished may refer to: * ''Finished'' (novel), a 1917 novel by H. Rider Haggard * ''Finished'' (film), a 1923 British silent romance film * "Finished" (short story), a science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp See also *Finishing (disa ...

his secondary education in 1938. He studied different languages on his own, and during the Second World War he received private tuition in

Russian language Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...

from professors

Christian Schweigaard Stang Christian Schweigaard Stang (15 March 1900 – 2 July 1977) was a Norwegian linguist, Slavicist and Balticist, professor in Balto-Slavic languages at the University of Oslo from 1938 until shortly before his death. He specialized in the study of ...

and

Erik Krag Erik Krag (13 January 1902 – 13 May 1987) was a Norwegian literary historian, translator, novelist and playwright. He was born in Copenhagen, a son of novelist Thomas Krag and poet Iben Nielsen. Krag is known as the founder of Slavic languag ...

. He received a

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

grant in 1946 to study the

Chinese language Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...

under

Bernhard Karlgren Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods. In the early 20th century, Karlgren conducte ...

in Sweden, and Henne graduated with the fil.kand. degree from the

Stockholm University College Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...

in 1948, and went to South China to study further. He made a name studying

Hakka Chinese Hakka (, , ) forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people throughout Southern China and Taiwan and throughout the diaspora areas of East Asia, Southeast Asia and in overseas Chinese communities around th ...

, and later learnt Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai in Japan and the United States. He was a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

from 1952 to 1956, before taking the fil.lic. degree at Stockholm University College in 1958. He was a professor at the International Christian University, Tokyo from 1958 to 1963, at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

from 1963 to 1965, at the International Christian University, Tokyo from 1965 to 1966, at the University of Oslo from 1966 to 1981 and the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen ( no, Universitetet i Bergen, ) is a research-intensive state university located in Bergen, Norway. As of 2019, the university has over 4,000 employees and 18,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 194 ...

from 1981 to 1988. He then worked with Japanese tuition at the

Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

from 1988 to 1992. Henne was the chairman of the

Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture ( no, Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning) is a humanities research institute based in Oslo, Norway. It was established in 1922 by Fredrik Stang. An independent institute, its task ...

from 1975 to 1986 and a board member of the Central Nordic Institute of Asian Studies from 1967 to 1988. He was a member of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Univer ...

from 1970 and the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters {{Infobox organization , name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , full_name = , native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab , native_name_lang = , logo = Royal ...

from 1979, and was decorated with the

Order of the Rising Sun The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government, created on 10 April 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight ...

in 1988. He died in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henne, Henry 1918 births 2002 deaths Linguists from Norway Norwegian sinologists Stockholm University alumni International Christian University faculty Cornell University faculty Academic staff of the University of Oslo Academic staff of the University of Bergen Academic staff of the Norwegian School of Economics Norwegian expatriates in Sweden Norwegian expatriates in China Norwegian expatriates in Japan Norwegian expatriates in the United States Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun 20th-century linguists