Anders Uppström (29 June 1806 – 21 January 1865) was a Swedish philologist, particularly known for his work on the

Codex Argenteus The (Latin for "Silver Book/Codex") is a 6th century, 6th-century illuminated manuscript, originally containing Gospel#Canonical gospels, part of the Gothic Bible, 4th-century translation of the Christian Bible into the Gothic language. Trad ...

, the manuscript of Bishop

Wulfila Ulfilas (; – 383), known also as Wulfila(s) or Urphilas, was a 4th-century Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent. He was the apostle to the Gothic people. Ulfila served as a bishop and missionary, participated in the Arian controver ...

's Gothic Bible translation held by the

Uppsala University Library The Uppsala University Library () at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, consists of 11 subject libraries, one of which is housed in the old main library building, Carolina Rediviva. The library holds books and periodicals, manuscripts, music ...

. Born into the family of a factory worker at Hammarby bruk in

Gästrikland Gästrikland () is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Uppland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Hälsingland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Gästrikland is the southernmost and the most densely populated of the No ...

, Uppström had his education partly paid for by his father's employer Tore Petré. After completing school in

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

, he enrolled at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () 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 operation. Initially fou ...

in 1824, and was awarded the highest degree at the Faculty of Philosophy, ''filosofie magister'', in 1833. He worked as a teacher of Greek and Hebrew at the Uppsala Cathedral School between 1835 and 1859 (as ''kollega'' from 1834, ''förste adjunkt'' from 1845, and ''lektor'' — lecturer — from 1858). He was appointed

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

of the

Gothic language Gothic is an extinct language, extinct East Germanic languages, East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only Ea ...

at the

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in 1850, and professor extraordinary of "Mesogothic and related languages" in 1859. Uppström started studying Gothic in 1834 and became docent based on his dissertation, ''Aivaggeljo þairh Matþaiu eller Fragmenterna af Matthæi Evangelium på götiska jemte ordförklaring och ordböjningslära'', for which the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

awarded him its Royal Prize. In 1854, he published an edition of the parts of Wulfila's Gothic Bible translation that were known from the manuscript

. This codex had been kept in Uppsala since the late seventeenth century and is thought to have originated at the court of Ostrogothic king

Theodoric the Great Theodoric (or Theoderic) the Great (454 – 30 August 526), also called Theodoric the Amal, was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), and ruler of the independent Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy between 493 and 526, regent of the Visigoths (511–526 ...

(d. 526). His edition contained only the text from the 177 manuscript leaves then extant, ten leaves having mysteriously disappeared between 1821 and 1834. The ten missing leaves were recovered in 1857, returned to Uppström by an old library janitor on his deathbed. Uppström published a supplement to his previous edition, ''Decem Codicis argenteæ rediviva folia'' the same year. A journey in 1860 to Rome,

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, and

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District Wolfenbüttel (; ) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel (district), Wolfenbüttel Distri ...

, financed by the sons of his childhood patron Petré, resulted in ''Fragmenta gothica selecta'' (1861) and another journey to the

Ambrosian Library The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose agen ...

in 1863 to study the so-called Ambrosian Gothic manuscripts led to ''Codices gotici ambrosiani'', which was published posthumously by his son Anders Erik Wilhelm Uppström in 1868. Uppström also published works on comparative

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

linguistics, Swedish dialects, and a variety of other topics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uppstrom, Anders 1806 births 1865 deaths People from Sandviken Municipality Swedish philologists