Matias Skard (28 May 1846 – 28 July 1927) was a Norwegian philologist, educator, psalmist, essayist and translator.
Biography
Matias Olsen Skard was born on a family farm at
Øyer
Øyer is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Tingberg. The two largest villages in the municipality are Granrudmo ...
in
Gudbrandsdal
Gudbrandsdalen (; en, Gudbrand Valley) is a valley and traditional district in the Norwegian county of Innlandet (formerly Oppland). The valley is oriented in a north-westerly direction from Lillehammer and the lake of Mjøsa, extending toward ...
, Norway. He had planned to study theology but rather began his career as a teacher. He taught at the Latin School in
Lillehammer from 1864 to 1868 and at Folk High Schools in
Nord-Trøndelag from 1877 to 1881. He chaired the Vonheim Folk High School founded by
Christopher Bruun in
Østre Gausdal
Østre Gausdal is a former municipality in the old Oppland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1879 until its dissolution in 1962. The area is now part of Gausdal Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Segalstad ...
from 1884 to 1890. From 1886 to 1890, he was also co-editor of the newspaper ''
Framgang''. He taught at the Teacher's College in
Levanger
Levanger is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the district of Innherred. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Levanger. Some of the notable villages in the municipality include Alstadhaug, Ekne ...
from 1892 to 1901. In 1901, he was appointed school director in
Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...
, a position he retained until he retired in 1921.
During the 1880s, Skard was in a task group charged with translating the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
into the
Norwegian language
Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regio ...
. His brief
Nynorsk
Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-N ...
dictionary ''Nynorsk ordbok for rettskriving og literaturlesnad'', which was published by
Aschehoug in 1912, proved popular and has been a basis for several later editions.
Personal life
Matias Skard was married three times. He was the father of horticulturists
Olav Skard and
Torfinn Skard, professor
Sigmund Skard
Sigmund Skard (31 July 1903 – 26 May 1995) was a Norwegian poet, essayist and professor of American literature.
Biography
Skard was born in Kristiansand, Norway. He was a son of educators Matias Skard (1846–1927) and Gyda Christensen (1868†...
, classical philologist
Eiliv Skard and Bishop
Bjarne Skard.
''Skard'' (Store norske leksikon)
/ref>
See also
* Norsk Ordbok (Nynorsk)
References
External links
Nynorsk ordbok rettskriving og literaturlesnad (1912)''Matias Skard : en pedagog i sin tid''
1846 births
1927 deaths
People from Øyer
Norwegian educators
Norwegian newspaper editors
Translators of the Bible into Norwegian
{{norway-translator-stub