Olof Werling Melin (3 August 1861 – 15 January 1940) was a Swedish
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
and the creator of
Melin Shorthand, the dominant shorthand system in Sweden.
Biography
Melin was born in
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
, Sweden. Melin taught the
Gabelsberger shorthand
Gabelsberger shorthand, named for its creator, is a form of shorthand previously common in Germany and Austria. Created c. 1817 by Franz Xaver Gabelsberger, it was first fully described in the 1834 textbook ''Anleitung zur deutschen Redezeichenk ...
system in the
Swedish Army
The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces.
History
Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vas ...
. Being dissatisfied with it, he created an alternative system subsequently called
Melin Shorthand. This system quickly became the dominant shorthand system in Sweden.
Olof Melin also published several books. The most notable among them are ''Stenografiens historia, första delen'' and ''Stenografiens historia, andra delen'' (''The history of shorthand – Part I and Part II''), which can be regarded as his
Magnum Opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
. In these two books Melin described the history of shorthand from the ancient Greece to modern times.
Bibliography
* Melin, O.W. (1892). Förenklad snabbskrift. Stockholm. (The first publication of
Melin Shorthand).
Nordisk Familjebok pp. 1269–1270, 1917.
/ref>
* Melin, O.W. (1927). Stenografiens historia, första delen. Stockholm.
* Melin, O.W. (1929). Stenografiens historia, andra delen. Stockholm.
See also
* Shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''ste ...
* Melin Shorthand
References
1861 births
1940 deaths
Swedish Army colonels
Creators of writing systems
Military personnel from Gothenburg
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