Prods Oktor Skjærvø

, native_name_lang = no
, birth_name =
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Steinkjer, Norway
, nationality =
, citizenship =
, other_names =
, occupation = Aga Khan Professor of Iranian Studies (Emeritus) at Harvard University
, period =
, known_for =
, home_town =
, title =
, boards =
, spouse =
, partner =
, children =
, parents =
, relatives =
, awards =
, website =
, education =
, alma_mater = University of Oslo
, thesis_title = The Paikuli Inscription: Restoration and Interpretation. Pt.1: Restored Text and Translation (109 pp.). Pt.2: Introduction
and Commentary
, thesis_url =
, thesis_year = 1981
, school_tradition =
, doctoral_advisor =
, academic_advisors =
, influences =
, era =
, discipline =
, sub_discipline =
, workplaces =
, doctoral_students =
, notable_students =
, main_interests = Iranian Studies, Linguistics
, notable_works = ''The Spirit of Zoroastrianism''
''An Introduction to Old Persian''
, notable_ideas =
, influenced =
, signature =
, signature_alt =
, signature_size =
, footnotes =

Prods Oktor Skjaervo ( no, Prods Oktor Skjærvø) is Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, where he succeeded Richard Frye as Aga Khan Professor of Iranian Studies.

Born in Steinkjer, Norway, Skjaervo is a hyperpolyglot, familiar with historical and living languages including Old Norse, Norwegian, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Latin, Larestani, Kumzari, Bashkardi, Pashto, Yidgha, Yaghnobi, Munji, Old Khotanese, Avestan, Old Persian, Pahlavi, Manichean Middle Persian, Parthian, Sogdian, Khotanese, New Persian, Ossetic, Kurdish, Tokharian, Vedic, and Classical Sanskrit.

Education

In 1963 Skjaervo matriculated at the University of Oslo where he studied French, Latin, and Sanskrit, with a semester in 1965 at the Sorbonne in Paris. He earned his B.A. (candidatus magisterii) in 1970. In 1974 he completed his M.A. with the thesis, ''Undersøkelser til verbalsystemet i gammelpersisk og vestlig middeliransk'' (''Investigations into the verbal systems of Old Persian and Western Middle Iranian''), on which he subsequently based his “Remarks on the Old Persian Verbal System.” He then completed his Ph.D. in 1981 from the University of Oslo with the dissertation, ''The Paikuli Inscription, Restoration and Interpretation. Pt.1: Restored Text and Translation (109 pp.). Pt2: Introduction and Commentary''.

Chairs and Committees

Skjaervo served in a number of academic positions at Harvard including:
* Chair, Committee for Inner Asian and Altaic Studies, 1993–2000
* Chair, Department of Sanskrit, 1995–1996
* Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations, 2002–2006 and 2009
He has also been invited as:
* Guest lecturer, Eötvös Loránd Tudomány University, Budapest, 1997
* Guest lecturer, Université de la Sorbonne, Paris
* Guest lecturer, Università di Studi di Roma, La Sapienza
* Visiting professor, Collège de France, Paris, May–June 2000
Skjaervo is also a Consulting Editor for ''Encyclopædia Iranica''.Encyclopædia Iranica Consulting Editors
Retrieved 2020-29-06.

Selected books

Skjaervo has published widely in a number of languages:

English

*

*

*

*

*

*

Norwegian

*

*

References

External links

Faculty member page
Harvard University

Profile
on the Consulting Editors page of the Encyclopædia Iranica

Official Academia.edu

Curriculum Vitae
of Prods Oktor Skjaervo

Complete list of publications
from homepage of Prods Oktor Skjaervo

Prods Oktor Skjaervo’s textbooks
hosted online at Harvard University, on:
*
Old Avestan
*
Young Avestan
*
Old Persian
*
Manichaean Sogdian
*
Introduction to Zoroastrianism
*
Introductions to Manicheism

American people of Norwegian descent
Iranologists
Harvard University faculty
Living people
1944 births
People from Steinkjer
Zoroastrian studies scholars
Linguists of Iranian languages
Linguists of Persian
{{US-academic-bio-stub