Anders Johan Sjögren (also spelled Andreas Johan Sjögren, in Russian also known as Andrei Mikhailovich Shëgren, Андре́й Миха́йлович Шёгрен; May 8, 1794 in

Iitti Iitti (; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Päijänne Tavastia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

– January 18, 1855 in St. Petersburg,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

) was a Finnish linguist, ethnographer, historian and explorer. He is known especially for his work with various Finno-Ugric languages such as Veps. Sjögren is considered the creator of the Ossetian Cyrillic alphabet, which is still used today with some modifications.

Biography

Sjögren was the son of a shoemaker from the village of Sitikkala in the

municipality in southeastern Finland, in those times (until 1809) part of Sweden but close to the Russian border. With support from the local clergy, the gifted boy could learn Swedish (the language of the education system in Finland at those times) and go to school in

Loviisa Loviisa (; ; formerly Degerby) is a town in Finland, located on the southern coast of the country. Loviisa is situated in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Loviisa is approximately , while the Loviisa sub-region, sub-regi ...

and

Porvoo Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...

, then to university in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

, where he graduated in 1819. During his studies he was inspired by Herderian Romantic Nationalism and started collecting Finnish folk poetry. In 1819, Sjögren moved to St. Petersburg, aspiring to a scholarship for conducting research with the

Finno-Ugric languages Finno-Ugric () is a traditional linguistic grouping of all languages in the Uralic language family except for the Samoyedic languages. Its once commonly accepted status as a subfamily of Uralic is based on criteria formulated in the 19th centur ...

and peoples of Russia. After receiving this grant, he traveled in Northern Russia from 1824 to 1829, From Eastern Finland and Karelia, he traveled eastwards to the Urals, then south to the Volga region, and returned to St. Petersburg with a wealth of data from diverse languages and cultures. He received a position at the Russian Academy of Sciences and published the results of his fieldwork in the years 1830–1834. These included new insights into the relatedness of the Finno-Ugric languages, a pioneering description of Veps, and a description of the Komi language. In 1835–1852, he traveled around the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

, exploring the languages and ethnography of the

Ossetians The Ossetians ( or ; ),Merriam-Webster (2021), s.v"Ossete" also known as Ossetes ( ), Ossets ( ), and Alans ( ), are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group who are indigenous to Ossetia, a region situated across the northern and southern side ...

Georgians Georgians, or Kartvelians (; ka, ქართველები, tr, ), are a nation and Peoples of the Caucasus, Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia (country), Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Ge ...

and some other Caucasian peoples. In 1846–1852, he collected field materials in Livland and Courland for the

Russian Geographical Society The Russian Geographical Society (), or RGO, is a learned society based in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It promotes geography, exploration and nature protection with research programs in fields including oceanography, ethnography, ecology and stati ...

. He created a grammar and dictionary of the Liv language, which were published after his death by Ferdinand Wiedemann, as well as the first "Ossetian Grammar" (Grammatik der ossetischen Sprache). He was elected to the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

and through the Academy provided sponsorship and research funding to Matthias Castrén, another ethnologist and philologist in the study of Uralic languages.

References

Literature

* Branch, Michael (1973). ''A. J. Sjögren: Studies of the North.'' Helsinki: Finno-Ugrian Society. 1794 births 1855 deaths Linguists from the Russian Empire Finnish Finno-Ugrists Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Finnish ethnologists Finnish explorers Finnish people from the Russian Empire Linguists from Finland Caucasologists from the Russian Empire {{Finland-bio-stub