Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld is the main character in a series of short, humorous novels by Scottish author Alexander McCall Smith. In the books, Von Igelfeld is depicted as: *a "Professor Dr" *proud, stoic, and unable or unwilling to admit or face failure or imminent disaster in his professional or personal life (frequently the basis for the humour in these novels) *a

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

*the author of a fictional book ''

Portuguese Irregular Verbs ''Portuguese Irregular Verbs'' is a short comic novel by Alexander McCall Smith, and the first of McCall Smith's series of novels featuring Professor Dr von Igelfeld. It was first published in 1997. Some consider the book to be a series of con ...

'', described as "''the seminal work on Romance philology''" and "''a lengthy book of some twelve hundred pages''" *proud of his

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

ic German heritage *an academic at the fictional Institute of Romance Philology in

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

, Germany *a colleague of the other major characters of the book series, Professor Dr Dr (''

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

'') Florianus Prinzel and Professor Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer *a compound word name in the German language meaning " hedgehog

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

" (compounded from ''igel'' = hedgehog and ''feld'' = field) *tall *born on May Day, 1 May *initially a student in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Germany *the

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

for his friend Prinzel's

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

, which he had mistakenly arranged in a drunken discussion *a

doctoral A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

student of Professor Dr Dr Dr Dieter Vogelsang, in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany, studying

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

philology and in particular Early Irish, and completed a field trip to

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

to gather data on its

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

*a doctoral student (second assistant) of Professor Walter Schöffler-Henschell at the University of

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Book series

The books in the series are: *2003 ''

'' *2003 ''

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs ''The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs'' is a novel by Scottish author and academic Alexander McCall Smith. The book relates further matters in the life of the main character, Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, following on from the first book ...

'' *2003 ''

At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances ''At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances'' is a book by Scottish author and academic Alexander McCall Smith, relating further matters in the life of the main character, Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld. Plot The Professor is a troubled Ger ...

'' *2011 ''

Unusual Uses for Olive Oil Unusual or The Unusual or The Unusuals may refer to: Film and TV *''The Unusuals'', a 2009 TV series. Music *'' The Unusual'', an El Da Sensei album * Unusual (album) Giuni Russo 2006 Songs * Unusual (song) Trey Songz *"Unusual", song by Franc ...

'' *2021 ''Your Inner Hedgehog'' The illustrations in the books are by Iain McIntosh.

External links

Author's page at Random House publishers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Igelfeld, Moritz-Maria Von Fictional nobility Fictional German people Literary characters introduced in 2003 Fictional philologists