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Per Sigurd Agrell (16 January 1881 in Värmland – 19 April 1937 in
Per Sigurd Agrell (16 January 1881 in Värmland – 19 April 1937 in Lund
Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
) was a Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
poet, translator
Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
, runologist
Runology is the study of the Runic alphabets, Runic inscriptions and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.
History
Runology was initiated by Johannes Bureus (1568–1652), who was very interested in the lingu ...
and professor of Slavic languages
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Ear ...
at Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion Norrmalm in 1898, he was admitted to
Rökstenens chiffergåtor och andra runologiska problem (Available online via Projekt Runeberg)
' *1931 - ''Senantik mysteriereligion och nordisk runmagi: en inledning i den nutida runologiens grundproblem'' *1932 - ''Die spätantike Alphabet-Mystik und die Runenreihe'' *1934 -
Lapptrummor och runmagi: tvenne kapitel ur trolldomsväsendets historia (Available online via Projekt Runeberg)
' *1936 - ''Die pergamenische Zauberscheibe und das Tarockspiel'' *1938 - ''Die Herkunft der Runenschrift''
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...
, where he earned his licentiate degree in 1907. He then continued his academic career at Lund University, where he in 1908 defended his PhD thesis on aspect
Aspect or Aspects may refer to:
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* ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...
in Polish
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* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
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. He received his doctoral degree
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 ...
in 1909 and was later appointed associate professor (''docent
The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...
'') at the same university.
Having taught at Lund University since 1908, Agrell became professor of Slavic languages in 1921. He translated a number of Russian books, such as Slavic legends, and Ivan Bunin's stories. His 1925 translation of Leo Tolstoy
Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...
's '' Anna Karenina'' was for a long time the standard translation of this novel in Sweden. At first, however, it was criticized for being more personal and original that a previous translation by Walborg Hedberg. Alongside his work in Slavic languages, Agrell was also interested in runology
Runology is the study of the Runic alphabets, Runic inscriptions and their history. Runology forms a specialized branch of Germanic linguistics.
History
Runology was initiated by Johannes Bureus (1568–1652), who was very interested in the lingu ...
, and published a number of papers in this field.
He began his poetic career as a 16-year-old secondary school student in Örebro
Örebro ( , ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers in ...
, where he contributed with translations and own poems to '' Lingvo internacia'', an Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
magazine that had been published in Uppsala since 1895. Among others, he translated poems by Swedish authors Erik Johan Stagnelius
Erik Johan Stagnelius (14 October 17933 April 1823) was a Swedish Romantic poet, playwright and romantic critic of political economy.https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1086360/FULLTEXT01.pdf
1810 to 1840 was a time of blossoming in ...
and Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom.
During his studies in Uppsala, Agrell belonged, together with John Landquist, Sven Lidman and Harald Brising
Harald or Haraldr is the Old Norse form of the given name Harold. It may refer to:
Medieval Kings of Denmark
* Harald Bluetooth
Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson ( non, Haraldr Blátǫnn Gormsson; da, Harald Blåtand Gormsen, died c. 985/86) was ...
to ''Les quatre diables'', a group of students with literary interests. Agrell wrote mainly symbolist
Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...
poetry, with an emphasis on form, but his interest in writing diminished as modern free verse poetry gained popularity in Sweden. At the same time, he became more focused on his academic work.
He is perhaps most known for his work in runology, particularly for formulating the Uthark theory The Uthark theory about the runes holds that the ''rune row'' is a cipher, and that one can understand its meaning by placing the first rune, "F", last, resulting in an ”Uthark” instead of the traditional "Futhark" order. It originated in the ...
. He focused on the magical and mystical aspects of runes ( gematria).
Agrell married Anna Elvira Osterman. He was father to military psychologist Jan Agrell and zoologist Ivar Agrell, and grandfather to historian Wilhelm Agrell
Hans ''Wilhelm'' Kristofer Agrell (born 13 October 1950) is a Swedish writer and historian within the area of peace and conflict studies. His authorship has mostly focussed on Swedish foreign, security and defence policy during the Cold War.
Ea ...
. He died in 1937 and is buried at Norra kyrkogården in Lund.
Poem collections
* 1903 - ''Arabesker'' * 1905 - ''Solitudo'' * 1906 - ''Hundra och en sonett'' * 1908 - ''Den dolda örtagården'' * 1909 - ''Purpurhjärtat'' * 1912 - ''Antika kaméer'' * 1931 - ''Valda dikter''Selected works in philology
*1908 - ''Aspektänderung und aktionsartbildung beim polnischen zeitworte'' *1913 - ''Intonation und auslaut im slavischen'' *1915 - ''Zur slavischen lautlehre'' *1917 - ''Slavische lautstudien''Selected works in runology
*1927 - ''Runornas talmystik och dess antika förebild'' *1930 -Rökstenens chiffergåtor och andra runologiska problem (Available online via Projekt Runeberg)
' *1931 - ''Senantik mysteriereligion och nordisk runmagi: en inledning i den nutida runologiens grundproblem'' *1932 - ''Die spätantike Alphabet-Mystik und die Runenreihe'' *1934 -
Lapptrummor och runmagi: tvenne kapitel ur trolldomsväsendets historia (Available online via Projekt Runeberg)
' *1936 - ''Die pergamenische Zauberscheibe und das Tarockspiel'' *1938 - ''Die Herkunft der Runenschrift''
References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agrell, Sigurd 1881 births 1937 deaths People from Filipstad Municipality Writers from Värmland Linguists from Sweden Swedish-language poets Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Lund University Swedish translators 20th-century Swedish poets 20th-century translators 20th-century linguists